Web service providing apparatus

ABSTRACT

A Web service providing apparatus is disclosed for controlling a sequence of processes to cause a Web service providing apparatus to copy or print out a target document stored therein to another Web service providing apparatus in cooperation with the Web service providing apparatuses and a terminal connected to each other via a communication network. The Web service providing apparatus includes a server processing part controlling receipt of a process request from a connected requesting apparatus and transmission of a process response corresponding to the process request to the requesting apparatus in accordance with a predetermined protocol; a condition acquisition control part controlling acquisition of target information designated by the process request based on a first processable condition; and a service providing part performing the requested process and sending a result of the process to the server processing part.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. §119 to JapanesePatent Priority Application Nos. 2002-275976 filed Sep. 20, 2002,2002-275978 filed Sep. 20, 2002 filed Sep. 20, 2002, and 2002-275985filed Sep. 20, 2002, the entire contents of which are herebyincorporated by reference. The present application also claims priorityunder 35 U.S.C. §119 to Japanese Patent Priority Application Nos.2003-327268, 2003-327269, and 2003-327270, which were filed Sep. 19,2003.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention generally relates to a Web service providingapparatus, and more particularly to a Web service providing apparatusthat can perform various processes, such as copying and printing, on adocument or an image stored in another connected apparatus throughcooperation with apparatuses connected to the Web service providingapparatus via a network in flexible manners, that is, even if a user isin front of any of the connected apparatuses and operates the apparatus.

In addition, the present invention relates to a Web service providingmethod performed by such a Web service providing apparatus.

2. Description of the Related Art

In the prior art associated with processing for image data throughcooperation with image forming apparatuses connected to each other via anetwork, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 2000-6496 disclosesan image forming apparatus, which can be connected to information outputapparatuses via a network, designed to prevent quality degradation of anoutput image even if any of the information output apparatuses in thenetwork outputs the image.

However, since the disclosed image forming apparatus is intended tocause other apparatuses connected thereto via a network to output imagedata, the disclosed invention does not cover other types of informationprocessing that are performed through cooperation with the connectedapparatuses. Accordingly, the conventional image forming apparatus, if amultifunctional product having various functions not limited to imageprocessing is connected to the image forming apparatus via the network,cannot control cooperation to perform such various processes that themultifunctional product can provide. Hence, the conventional imageforming apparatus has disadvantages in that the image forming apparatuscannot make full use of such various functions of the connectedmultifunctional product.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is a general object of the present invention to provide a Web serviceproviding apparatus in which one or more of the above-mentioned problemsare eliminated.

A more specific object of the present invention is to provide a Webservice providing apparatus that can properly perform various processes,such as a copying operation and a printing operation, on a document oran image stored in another connected apparatus through cooperation withapparatuses connected to the Web service providing apparatus via anetwork even if a user is in front of any of the connected apparatusesand operates the apparatus.

In addition, another more specific object of the present invention is toprovide a Web service providing method performed by such a Web serviceproviding apparatus.

In order to achieve the above-mentioned objects, there is providedaccording to one aspect of the present invention a Web service providingapparatus, including: a server processing part controlling receipt of aprocess request to request a process from a requesting apparatusconnected to the Web service providing apparatus via a communicationline and transmission of a process response corresponding to the processrequest to the requesting apparatus in accordance with a predeterminedprotocol; a condition acquisition control part, in response to aninstruction from the server processing part, controlling acquisition oftarget information designated by the process request from a managementapparatus managing the target information based on a first processablecondition under which the target information is processable to themanagement apparatus and the Web service providing apparatus; and aservice providing part performing the requested process on the targetinformation and sending a result of the process to the server processingpart.

According to one aspect of the present invention, the above-mentionedWeb service providing apparatus can control acquisition of a firstprocessable condition, under which target information designated by aprocess request can be processed by the Web service providing apparatusand a management apparatus, corresponding to the type of the targetinformation.

Also, the predetermined protocol is, for example, a Simple Object AccessProtocol (SOAP).

In an embodiment of the present invention, the Web service providingapparatus may further include: a program including the conditionacquisition control part and the service providing part; a controlservice managing a hardware resource used in the process; and anoperating system controlling the program and the control service.

According to one aspect of the present invention, the above-mentionedWeb service providing apparatus, which works as a computer, can directlycontrol hardware resources for image processing.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the Web service providingapparatus may further include a client processing part, in response toan instruction issued by the condition acquisition control part,controlling transmission of a process request to the managementapparatus and receipt of a process response from the managementapparatus in accordance with the predetermined protocol.

According to one aspect of the present invention, the conditionacquisition control part can properly control communication of processrequests and process responses through a processable condition to amanagement apparatus and the Web service providing apparatus.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the condition acquisitioncontrol part may include: a sequence control part controlling a sequenceof processes to acquire a second processable condition regarding thetarget information from the management apparatus and internally acquirea third processable condition regarding the target information in theWeb service providing apparatus; and a condition determination partdetermining the first processable condition based on the secondprocessable condition and the third processable condition acquired bythe sequence control part.

According to one aspect of the present invention, it is possible toproperly determine the first processable condition regarding themanagement apparatus and the Web service providing apparatus byacquiring the second and third processable conditions.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the sequence control part mayinclude: a first control part controlling the client processing part soas to acquire the second processable condition from the managementapparatus by sending a process request to request the second processablecondition to the management apparatus; a second control part controllingthe client processing part so as to acquire the third processablecondition from the Web service providing apparatus by internally issuinga process request to request the third processable condition to theserver processing part; a determination instruction part causing thecondition determination part to make the determination based on thesecond processable condition and the third processable condition; and aninformation acquisition part acquiring the target information from themanagement apparatus in accordance with the first processable conditiondetermined by the condition determination part.

According to one aspect of the present invention, the sequence controlpart acquires the second and third processable conditions regarding themanagement apparatus and the Web service providing apparatus, anddetermines the first processable condition based on the second and thirdprocessable conditions. Also, it is possible to acquire targetinformation from the management apparatus based on the first processablecondition.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the client processing partmay include: a process request creation part, in response to aninstruction issued by the sequence control part, creating a processrequest, which is to be sent to the management apparatus, correspondingto the instruction in accordance with the predetermined protocol; and aprocess response interpretation part interpreting a process response,which is received from the management apparatus, corresponding to theprocess request and informing a result of the interpretation to thesequence control part.

According to one aspect of the present invention, the sequence controlpart controls not only the process request creation part but also aresult of the process response interpretation part.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the service providing partmay include a service execution part executing a process correspondingto a process request received from the requesting apparatus orinternally created.

According to one aspect of the present invention, it is possible toperform a process corresponding to a process request not only receivedfrom a requesting apparatus via a network but also internally issued.Thus, it is possible to perform a process corresponding to a processrequest created by the client process part in response to an instructionissued by the condition acquisition control part as for a processrequest received from a requesting apparatus.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the server processing partmay include: a process request interpretation part interpreting theprocess request to request the process on the target information inaccordance with the predetermined protocol; and a process responsecreation part creating a process response to indicate a result of theprocess in accordance with the predetermined protocol.

According to one aspect of the present invention, since the processrequest interpretation part interprets a process request and the processresponse creation part creates a process response in accordance with apredetermined protocol such as SOAP, the above-mentioned Web serviceproviding apparatus can work as a Web server.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the process requestinterpretation part may include: a determination part determiningwhether the process request is to acquire the target information fromthe management apparatus; and a notification part informing thecondition acquisition control part of the process request based on aresult of the determination made by the determination part.

According to one aspect of the present invention, a process request isdelivered to the condition acquisition control part based ondetermination of the determination part. As a result, it is possible tostart a sequence of processes associated with the Web service providingapparatus and the management apparatus through the condition acquisitioncontrol part.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the process response creationpart may include a control result creation part creating a processresponse to indicate a result of the control of the conditionacquisition control part in accordance with the predetermined protocol.

According to one aspect of the present invention, it is possible to senda control result of the sequence associated with the managementapparatus and the Web service providing apparatus to the requestingapparatus as a process response corresponding to a process request.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the condition acquisitioncontrol part may include: an attribute information acquisition partacquiring attribute information regarding the target information fromthe management apparatus; and a third control part causing the clientprocessing part to internally issue the process request to request theprocess on the target information to the client processing part based onthe attribute information, wherein the service providing part executesthe process requested by the requesting apparatus via the serverprocessing part based on the attribute information.

According to one aspect of the present invention, it is possible toperform a process requested by the requesting apparatus based onattribute information regarding the target information.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the Web service providingapparatus may include a display part, the display part including: afirst display part displaying a list of selectable apparatuses that auser is allowed to select among apparatuses connected via thecommunication line; a second display part, when the user selects adesired apparatus from the list of apparatuses, displaying a list ofinformation items managed by the management apparatus; and an apparatusdetermination part, when the user designates a desired information itemfrom the list of information items and the desired apparatus from thelist of selectable apparatuses, determining the designated apparatus asa processing apparatus to perform the process.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the second display part maydisplay the information items in a reduced size on the display part.

According to one aspect of the present invention, a user can determinewhich apparatus should perform a process on which information item bydragging and dropping operations.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the requesting apparatus maybe one of the Web service providing apparatus, the management apparatusand a terminal connected to each other via the communication line.

According to one aspect of the present invention, even if the requestingapparatus is any of the Web service providing apparatus, the managementapparatus and the terminal, it is possible to acquire target informationstored in another apparatus in cooperation with associated apparatusesconnected via a network and copy or print the target information in therequesting apparatus.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the communication line may beone of a network communication line including a wireless LAN, a serialcommunication line including an infrared communication, and a parallelcommunication line.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the predetermined protocolmay be a Simple Object Access Protocol.

Additionally, there is provided according to another aspect of thepresent invention a method of providing a Web service for a Web serviceproviding apparatus, the method including a server processing step ofcontrolling receipt of a process request to request a process from arequesting apparatus connected to the Web service providing apparatusvia a communication line and transmission of a process responsecorresponding to the process request to the requesting apparatus inaccordance with a predetermined protocol; a condition acquisitioncontrol step of controlling, corresponding to an instruction from theserver processing step, acquisition of target information designated bythe process request from a management apparatus managing the targetinformation based on a first processable condition under which thetarget information is processable to the management apparatus and theWeb service providing apparatus; and a service providing step ofperforming the requested process on the target information and informingthe server processing step of a result of the process.

Additionally, there is provided according to another aspect of thepresent invention a Web service providing apparatus, including: aservice providing part managing target information and providing thetarget information to a processing apparatus, which performs a processon the target information, in accordance with a first processablecondition received from the processing apparatus; a process requestinterpretation part interpreting a process request to request theprocess in accordance with a predetermined protocol and informing theservice providing part of the process; and a process request creationpart creating a process response to indicate a result of the process inaccordance with the predetermined protocol.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the service providing partmay include a processable condition providing part, in response toreceipt of a process request to acquire a second processable conditionwith respect to the processing apparatus, sending a process response toindicate the second processable condition in accordance with thepredetermined protocol, and after the transmission of the processresponse to indicate the second processable condition, the serviceproviding part may provide the target information to the processingapparatus in accordance with the first processable condition receivedfrom the processing apparatus.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the Web service providingapparatus may further include: a process request creation part creatingthe process request to request the process in accordance with thepredetermined protocol; and a process response interpretation partinterpreting the received process response corresponding to the processrequest.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the Web service providingapparatus may further include a display part, the display partincluding: a first display part displaying a list of selectableapparatuses that a user is allowed to select among apparatuses connectedvia a communication line; a second display part, when the user selects adesired apparatus from the list of selectable apparatuses, displaying alist of information items managed by the selected apparatus; and anapparatus determination part, when the user designates a desiredinformation item from the list of information items and the desiredapparatus from the list of selectable apparatuses, determining thedesignated apparatus as the processing apparatus.

Additionally, there is provided according to another aspect of thepresent invention a method of providing a Web service for a Web serviceproviding apparatus, the method including: a service providing step ofmanaging target information and providing the target information to aprocessing apparatus to perform a process on the target informationbased on a first processable condition received from the processingapparatus; a process request interpretation step of interpreting aprocess request to request the process in accordance with apredetermined protocol and informing the service providing step of theprocess; and a process request creation step of creating a processresponse to indicate a result of the process in accordance with thepredetermined protocol.

Additionally, there is provided according to another aspect of thepresent invention a terminal, including: a process request creation partcreating a process request to cause a first apparatus to acquire targetinformation managed by a second apparatus from the second apparatus andperform a process on the target information in accordance with apredetermined protocol; a process response interpretation partinterpreting a process response corresponding to the process request andacquiring a result of the process performed by the first apparatus; anda display control part displaying the result of the process on a displayunit of the terminal.

Additionally, there is provided according to another aspect of thepresent invention a recording medium for storing a program to cause aterminal to execute a procedure, the procedure including a processrequest creation step of creating a process request to request a firstapparatus to acquire target information managed by a second apparatusfrom the second apparatus and perform a process on the targetinformation in accordance with a predetermined protocol; a processresponse interpretation step of interpreting a process responsecorresponding to the process request and acquiring a result of theprocess of the first apparatus; and a display control step of displayingthe result of the process on a display unit of the terminal.

Additionally, there is provided according to another aspect of thepresent invention a program to cause a terminal to execute a procedure,the procedure including: a process request creation step of creating aprocess request to request a first apparatus to acquire targetinformation managed by a second apparatus from the second apparatus andperform a process on the target information in accordance with apredetermined protocol; a process response interpretation step ofinterpreting a process response corresponding to the process request andacquiring a result of the process of the first apparatus; and a displaycontrol step of displaying the result of the process on a display unitof the terminal.

According to one aspect of the present invention, it is possible toperform some process, such as printing and copying operations, on atarget document, which is stored in a document transmitter apparatus, ina document receiver apparatus based on a processable document type incooperation with the document transmitter apparatus and the documentreceiver apparatuses.

Additionally, there is provided according to another aspect of thepresent invention a Web service providing apparatus, including: a serverprocessing part controlling receipt of a process request to request aprocess from a requesting apparatus connected to the Web serviceproviding apparatus via a communication line and transmission of aprocess response corresponding to the process request to the requestingapparatus in accordance with a predetermined protocol; a conditionacquisition control part, in response to an instruction from the serverprocessing part, controlling transmission of target informationdesignated by the process request to a processing apparatus based on afirst processable condition under which the target information isprocessable to the processing apparatus and the Web service providingapparatus; and a service providing part, in response to receipt of aresult of the process performed by the processing apparatus on thetarget information, informing the server processing part of the resultof the process.

According to one aspect of the present invention, the above-mentionedWeb service providing apparatus can control acquisition of a firstprocessable condition, under which target information designated by aprocess request can be processed by the Web service providing apparatusand a management apparatus, corresponding to the type of the targetinformation.

Also, the predetermined protocol is, for example, a Simple Object AccessProtocol (SOAP).

In an embodiment of the present invention, the Web service providingapparatus may further include: a program including the conditionacquisition control part and the service providing part; a controlservice managing a hardware resource used in the process; and anoperating system controlling the program and the control service.

According to one aspect of the present invention, the above-mentionedWeb service providing apparatus, which works as a computer, can directlycontrol hardware resources for image processing.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the Web service providingapparatus may further include a client processing part, in response toan instruction issued by the condition acquisition control part,controlling transmission of a process request to the processingapparatus and receipt of a process response from the processingapparatus in accordance with the predetermined protocol.

According to one aspect of the present invention, the conditionacquisition control part can properly control communication of processrequests and process responses through a processable condition to aprocessing apparatus and the Web service providing apparatus.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the condition acquisitioncontrol part may include: a sequence control part controlling a sequenceof processes to acquire a second processable condition regarding thetarget information from the processing apparatus and internally acquirea third processable condition regarding the target information from theWeb service providing apparatus; and a condition determination partdetermining the first processable condition based on the secondprocessable condition and the third processable condition acquired bythe sequence control part.

According to one aspect of the present invention, it is possible toproperly determine the first processable condition regarding theprocessing apparatus and the Web service providing apparatus byacquiring the second and third processable conditions.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the sequence control part mayinclude: a first control part controlling the client processing part soas to acquire the second processable condition from the processingapparatus by sending a process request to request the second processablecondition to the processing apparatus; a second control part controllingthe client processing part so as to acquire the third processablecondition from the Web service providing apparatus by internally issuinga process request to request the third processable condition to theserver processing part; a determination instruction part causing thecondition determination part to make the determination based on thesecond processable condition and the third processable condition; and aninformation transmission part sending the target information to theprocessing apparatus in accordance with the first processable conditiondetermined by the condition determination part.

According to one aspect of the present invention, the sequence controlpart acquires the second and third processable conditions regarding themanagement apparatus and the Web service providing apparatus,respectively, and determines the first processable condition based onthe second and third processable conditions. Also, the processingapparatus can acquire target information based on the first processablecondition.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the client processing partmay include: a process request creation part, in response to aninstruction issued by the sequence control part, creating a processrequest, which is sent to the processing apparatus, corresponding to theinstruction in accordance with the predetermined protocol; and a processresponse interpretation part interpreting a process response, which isreceived from the processing apparatus, corresponding to the processrequest and informing a result of the interpretation of the sequencecontrol part.

According to one aspect of the present invention, the sequence controlpart controls not only the process request creation part but also aresult of the process response interpretation part.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the service providing partmay include a service execution part executing a process correspondingto a process request received from the requesting apparatus orinternally created.

According to one aspect of the present invention, it is possible toperform a process corresponding to a process request not only receivedfrom a requesting apparatus via a network but also internally issued.Thus, it is possible to perform a process corresponding to a processrequest created by the client process part in response to an instructionissued by the condition acquisition control part as for a processrequest received from a requesting apparatus.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the server processing partmay include: a process request interpretation part interpreting theprocess request to request the process on the target information inaccordance with the predetermined protocol; and a process responsecreation part creating a process response to indicate a result of theprocess in accordance with the predetermined protocol.

According to one aspect of the present invention, since the processrequest interpretation part interprets a process request and the processresponse creation part creates a process response in accordance with apredetermined protocol such as SOAP, the above-mentioned Web serviceproviding apparatus can work as a Web server.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the process requestinterpretation part may include: a determination part determiningwhether the process request is to send the target information to theprocessing apparatus; and a notification part informing the conditionacquisition control part of the process request based on a result of thedetermination made by the determination part.

According to one aspect of the present invention, a process request isdelivered to the condition acquisition control part based ondetermination of the determination part. As a result, it is possible tostart a sequence of processes associated with the Web service providingapparatus and the management apparatus through the condition acquisitioncontrol part.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the process response creationpart may include a control result creation part creating a processresponse to indicate a result of the control of the conditionacquisition control part in accordance with the predetermined protocol.

According to one aspect of the present invention, it is possible to senda control result of the sequence associated with the processingapparatus and the Web service providing apparatus to the requestingapparatus as a process response corresponding to a process request.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the Web service providingapparatus may further include a display part, the display partincluding: a first display part displaying a list of selectableapparatuses that a user is allowed to select among apparatuses connectedvia a communication line; a second display part, when the user selects adesired apparatus from the list of selectable apparatuses, displaying alist of information items managed by the selected apparatus on thedisplay part; and an apparatus determination part, when the userdesignates a desired information item from the list of information itemsand the desired apparatus from the list of selectable apparatuses,determining the designated apparatus as a processing apparatus.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the second display part maydisplay the information items in a reduced size on the display part.

According to one aspect of the present invention, a user can determinewhich apparatus should perform a process on which information item bydragging and dropping operations.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the requesting apparatus maybe one of the Web service providing apparatus, the processing apparatus,and a terminal connected to each other via the communication line.

According to one aspect of the present invention, even if the requestingapparatus is any of the Web service providing apparatus, the managementapparatus and the terminal, it is possible to acquire target informationstored in management apparatus in cooperation with associatedapparatuses connected via a network and copy or print the targetinformation in the requesting apparatus.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the communication line may beone of a network communication line including a wireless LAN, a serialcommunication line including an infrared communication, and a parallelcommunication line.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the predetermined protocolmay be a Simple Object Access Protocol.

Additionally, there is provided according to another aspect of thepresent invention a method of providing a Web service for a Web serviceproviding apparatus, including: a server processing step of controllingreceipt of a process request to request a process from a requestingapparatus connected to the Web service providing apparatus via acommunication line and transmission of a process response correspondingto the process request to the requesting apparatus in accordance with apredetermined protocol; a condition acquisition control step ofcontrolling, corresponding to an instruction from the server processingstep, transmission of target information designated by the processrequest to a processing apparatus processing the target informationbased on a first processable condition under which the targetinformation is processable to the processing apparatus and the Webservice providing apparatus; and a service providing step of performingthe requested process on the target information and informing the serverprocessing step of a result of the process.

Additionally, there is provided according to another aspect of thepreset invention a Web service providing apparatus, including: a serviceproviding part performing a process on target information received froma management apparatus managing the target information in accordancewith a first processable condition and providing a result of the processto the management apparatus; a process request interpretation partinterpreting a process request to request the process in accordance witha predetermined protocol and informing the service providing part of theprocess; and a process request creation part creating a process responseto indicate a result of the process in accordance with the predeterminedprotocol.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the service providing partmay include a processable condition providing part, in response toreceipt of a process request to acquire a second processable conditionwith respect to the management apparatus, sending a process response toindicate the second processable condition in accordance with thepredetermined protocol, and after the transmission of the secondprocessable condition, the service providing part provides a result ofthe process on the target information received from the managementapparatus in accordance with the first processable condition.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the Web service providingapparatus may further include: a process request creation part creatingthe process request to request the process in accordance with thepredetermined protocol; and a process response interpretation partinterpreting the received process response corresponding to the processrequest.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the Web service providingapparatus may further include a display part, the display partincluding: a first display part displaying a list of selectableapparatuses that a user is allowed to select among apparatuses connectedvia the communication line; a second display part, when the user selectsa desired apparatus from the list of selectable apparatuses, displayinga list of information items managed by the selected apparatus; and anapparatus determination part, when the user designates a desiredinformation item from the list of information items and the desiredapparatus from the list of selectable apparatuses, determining thedesignated apparatus as a processing apparatus.

Additionally, there is provided according to another aspect of thepresent invention a method of providing a Web service for a Web serviceproviding apparatus, the method including a service providing step ofperforming a process on target information received from a managementapparatus managing the target information in accordance with a firstprocessable condition and providing a result of the process to themanagement apparatus; a process request interpretation step ofinterpreting a process request to request the process in accordance witha predetermined protocol and informing the service providing step of theprocess; and a process request creation step of creating a processresponse to indicate a result of the process in accordance with thepredetermined protocol.

Additionally, there is provided according to another aspect of thepresent invention a terminal, including: a process request creation partcreating a process request to cause a first apparatus to perform aprocess on target information managed by a second apparatus by sendingthe target information to the first apparatus in accordance with apredetermined protocol; a process response interpretation partinterpreting a process response corresponding to the process request andacquiring a result of the process performed by the first apparatus; anda display control part displaying the result of the process on a displayunit of the terminal.

Additionally, there is provided according to another aspect of thepresent invention a recording medium for storing a program to cause aterminal to execute a procedure, the procedure including: a processrequest creating step of creating a process request to cause a firstapparatus to perform a process on target information managed by a secondapparatus by sending the target information to the first apparatus; aprocess response interpretation step of interpreting a process responsecorresponding to the process request and acquiring a result of theprocess performed by the first apparatus; and a display control step ofdisplaying the result of the process on a display unit of the terminal.

Additionally, there is provided according to another aspect of thepresent invention a program to cause a terminal to execute a procedure,the procedure including: a process request creating step of creating aprocess request to cause a first apparatus to perform a process ontarget information managed by a second apparatus by sending the targetinformation to the first apparatus; a process response interpretationstep of interpreting a process response corresponding to the processrequest and acquiring a result of the process performed by the firstapparatus; and a display control step of displaying the result of theprocess on a display unit of the terminal.

According to one aspect of the present invention, it is possible toperform some process, such as printing and copying operations, on atarget document, which is stored in a document transmitter apparatus, ina document receiver apparatus based on a processable document type incooperation with the document transmitter apparatus and the documentreceiver apparatuses.

Additionally, there is provided according to another aspect of thepresent invention a terminal connected to a management apparatusmanaging target information and a processing apparatus processing thetarget information via a communication line, including: a clientprocessing part controlling transmission of a process request to requesta process to the management apparatus and the processing apparatus andreceipt of a process response corresponding to the process request fromthe management apparatus and the processing apparatus in accordance witha predetermined protocol; and a process control part acquiring a firstprocessable condition, under which the target information is processableto the processing apparatus, and controlling the client processing partso that the processing apparatus is allowed to perform the process onthe target information in accordance with the first processablecondition.

According to one aspect of the present invention, the terminal cancontrol cooperation to perform a process on target information, which isstored in a management apparatus, in a processing apparatus via acommunication line.

Also, the predetermined protocol is, for example, SOAP.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the process control part mayinclude: a first sequence control part controlling a sequence ofprocesses to acquire a second processable condition, under which thetarget information is acquirable from the management apparatus, from themanagement apparatus; a second sequence control part controlling asequence of processes to acquire a third processable condition, underwhich the target information is writable in the processing apparatus,from the processing apparatus; and a condition determination partdetermining the first processable condition based on the secondprocessable condition and the third processable condition.

According to one aspect of the present invention, it is possible toproperly determine the first processable condition under which themanagement apparatus and the processing apparatus can process the targetinformation.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the process control part mayinclude a third sequence control part controlling a sequence ofprocesses such that the processing apparatus copies the targetinformation from the management apparatus to the processing apparatus inaccordance with the first processable condition determined by thecondition determination part.

According to one aspect of the present invention, it is possible toperform a PULL type document copying process in such a way that theprocessing apparatus copies the target information managed by themanagement apparatus.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the process control part mayinclude a fourth sequence control part controlling a sequence ofprocesses such that the management apparatus writes the targetinformation in the processing apparatus in accordance with the firstprocessable condition determined by the condition determination part.

According to one aspect of the present invention, it is possible toperform a PUSH type document copying process in such a way that themanagement apparatus writes the target document in the processingapparatus.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the terminal may furtherinclude: a process request creation part creating a process requestcorresponding to a command issued by the process control part inaccordance with a predetermined protocol; and a process responseinterpretation part interpreting a process response received from themanagement apparatus or the processing apparatus corresponding to aprocess request.

According to one aspect of the present invention, the process requestcreation part creates a process request under control of the processcontrol part, and the process response interpretation part interprets aprocess response corresponding to a process request under control of theprocess control part. As a result, the terminal can send the processrequest to the management apparatus and the processing apparatus undercontrol of the process control part. Thus, it is possible to controlcooperation with the management apparatus and the processing apparatus.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the terminal may furtherinclude an operation part operating the process on the targetinformation managed by the management apparatus, the process controlpart creates the process request by controlling the process requestcreation part.

According to one aspect of the present invention, it is possible tostart control a sequence of processes for the target information managedby the management apparatus in cooperation with the connectedapparatuses corresponding to user's manipulation.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the operation part mayinclude a display part displaying a first display area and a seconddisplay area on a display unit of the terminal, the first display areawhere a list of apparatuses including the management apparatus and theprocessing apparatus is displayed, the second display area where a listof information items managed by the management apparatus is displayed,and the condition acquisition control part may operate corresponding tocopying manipulation or moving manipulation of the target information,which is displayed in the second display area, toward the processingapparatus, which is displayed in the first display area.

According to one aspect of the present invention, a user can request aprocess associated with cooperation with connected apparatuses bymanipulating screens.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the operation part mayinclude a first process designation part enabling a user to designate atype of process through copying manipulation or moving manipulation.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the operation part mayfurther include a second process designation part enabling the user todesignate a process method corresponding to the designated type ofprocess.

According to one aspect of the present invention, a user can designateone of types of various processes such as a copying process and aprinting process.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the operation part mayfurther include a third process designation part enabling the user todesignate a processing order of a plurality of information items thatthe user designates in the second display area.

According to one aspect of the present invention, when a user designatesthe process order of selected information items such as documents, it ispossible to designate the process order flexibly.

Additionally, there is provided according to another aspect of thepresent invention a recording medium for storing a program to cause aterminal to execute a procedure wherein the terminal is connected to amanagement apparatus managing target information and a processingapparatus processing the target information via a communication line,the procedure including: a client processing step of controllingtransmission of a process request to request a process to the managementapparatus and the processing apparatus and receipt of a process responsecorresponding to the process request from the management apparatus andthe processing apparatus in accordance with a predetermined protocol;and a process control step of acquiring a first processable condition,under which the target information is processable to the processingapparatus, and controlling the client processing step so that theprocessing apparatus is allowed to perform the process on the targetinformation in accordance with the first processable condition.

Additionally, there is provided according to another aspect of thepresent invention a program to cause a terminal to execute a procedurewherein the terminal is connected to a management apparatus managingtarget information and a processing apparatus processing the targetinformation via a communication line, the procedure including: a clientprocessing step of controlling transmission of a process request torequest a process to the management apparatus and the processingapparatus and receipt of a process response corresponding to the processrequest from the management apparatus and the processing apparatus inaccordance with a predetermined protocol; and a process control step ofacquiring a first processable condition, under which the targetinformation is processable to the processing apparatus, and controllingthe client processing step so that the processing apparatus is allowedto perform the process on the target information in accordance with thefirst processable condition.

According to one aspect of the present invention, the terminal canoperate corresponding to the program stored in the recording medium.

Additionally, there is provided according to another aspect of thepresent invention a Web service providing apparatus, including: aninformation management part managing target information; a conditionnotification part, in response to receipt of a request to acquire asecond processable condition regarding on the target information from aterminal connected to the Web service providing apparatus via acommunication line, informing the terminal of the second processablecondition; and a service providing part, in response to receipt of arequest to acquire the target information in accordance with the firstprocessable condition, which is within the second processable condition,from the processing apparatus, providing the target information, whichis acquired from the information management part, to the processingapparatus.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the Web service providingapparatus may further include; a program including the conditionnotification part and the service providing part; a control servicemanaging a hardware resource used in the process; and an operatingsystem controlling the program and the control service.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the Web service providingapparatus may further include; a process request interpretation partinterpreting the process request to request the process in accordancewith a predetermined protocol; and a process response creation partcreating a process response to indicate a result of the process inaccordance with the predetermined protocol.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the process requestinterpretation part may interpret a process request, which is receivedfrom the terminal, to acquire a processable condition regarding thetarget information, and the process response creation part may create aprocess response to indicate the second processable condition.

According to one aspect of the present invention, the managementapparatus can send the target information to the processing apparatuscorresponding to a request to acquire the target information inaccordance with the first processable condition, which is within thesecond processable condition sent to the terminal. The managementapparatus can be controlled to send the target information to theprocessing apparatus in accordance with the first processable condition.

Additionally, there is provided according to another aspect of thepresent invention a method of providing a Web service, the methodincluding: an information management step of managing targetinformation; a condition notification step, in response to receipt of arequest to acquire a second processable condition regarding on thetarget information from a terminal connected via a communication line,informing the terminal of the second processable condition; and aservice providing step, in response to receipt of a request to acquirethe target information in accordance with the first processablecondition, which is within the second processable condition, from theprocessing apparatus, providing the target information, which isacquired from the information management part, to the processingapparatus.

Additionally, there is provided according to another aspect of thepresent invention a Web service providing apparatus, including: acondition notification part, in response to receipt of a request toacquire a third processable condition regarding target informationmanaged by a management apparatus from a terminal connected to the Webservice providing apparatus via a communication line, informing theterminal of the third processable condition; a process requestinterpretation part interpreting a process request to perform a processon the target information in accordance with a first processablecondition, which is within the third processable condition received fromthe terminal in accordance with a predetermined protocol; and a processresponse creation part creating a process response to indicate a resultof the process in accordance with the predetermined protocol.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the Web service providingapparatus may further include: a process request creation part creatingthe process request to acquire the target information in accordance withthe first processable condition in accordance with the predeterminedprotocol; and a process response interpretation part interpreting theprocess response indicate the target information received from themanagement apparatus in accordance with the predetermined protocol.

According to one aspect of the present invention, the processingapparatus performs a process on the target information in accordancewith the first processable condition, it is possible to provide aprocess result to the terminal.

Additionally, there is provided according to another aspect of thepresent invention a method of providing a Web service, including: acondition notification step, in response to receipt of a request toacquire a third processable condition regarding target informationmanaged by a management apparatus from a terminal connected via acommunication line, of informing the terminal of the third processablecondition; a process request interpretation step of interpreting aprocess request to perform a process on the target information inaccordance with a first processable condition, which is within the thirdprocessable condition received from the terminal in accordance with apredetermined protocol; and a process response creation part of creatinga process response to indicate a result of the process in accordancewith the predetermined protocol.

According to one aspect of the present invention, it is possible toperform some process, such as printing and copying operations, on atarget document, which is stored in a document transmitter apparatus, ina document receiver apparatus based on a processable document type incooperation with the document transmitter apparatus, the documentreceiver apparatus and the terminal.

Other objects, features and advantages of the present invention willbecome more apparent from the following detailed description when readin conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary functional structureof an image forming apparatus having a plurality of image formingfunctions according to the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary hardwareconfiguration of the image forming apparatus shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an exemplary structure of a networksystem according to a first embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an exemplary functional structure of animage forming apparatus having a document process control part accordingto the first embodiment;

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an exemplary functional structure of animage forming apparatus having no document process control partaccording to the first embodiment;

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an exemplary functional structure of aterminal having no document process control part according to the firstembodiment;

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an exemplary operation of a firstdocument copying process for a first pattern according to the firstembodiment;

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating an exemplary operation of a seconddocument copying process for a second pattern according to the firstembodiment;

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating an exemplary operation of a thirddocument copying process for a third pattern according to the firstembodiment;

FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an exemplary HTTP request for adocument copying request command using a ticket according to the firstembodiment;

FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating an exemplary HTTP responsecorresponding to the document copying request command using a ticketaccording to the first embodiment;

FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating an exemplary HTTP request for anacquirable document type list request command according to the firstembodiment;

FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating an exemplary HTTP responsecorresponding to the acquirable document type list request commandaccording to the first embodiment;

FIG. 14 is a diagram illustrating an exemplary HTTP request for a pageimage request command according to the first embodiment;

FIG. 15 is a diagram illustrating an exemplary HTTP responsecorresponding to the page image request command according to the firstembodiment;

FIG. 16 is a diagram illustrating an exemplary copying manipulationscreen according to the first embodiment;

FIG. 17 is a diagram illustrating an exemplary copying confirmationdialog according to the first embodiment;

FIG. 18 is a diagram illustrating an exemplary plural document copyingmode setting dialog according to the first embodiment;

FIG. 19 is a diagram illustrating an exemplary plural document copyingorder setting dialog according to the first embodiment;

FIG. 20 is an exemplary functional structure of a network systemaccording to a second embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 21 is a diagram illustrating an exemplary functional structure ofan image forming apparatus having a document process control partaccording to the second embodiment;

FIG. 22 is a diagram illustrating an exemplary operation of a firstdocument printing process for a first pattern according to the secondembodiment;

FIG. 23 is a diagram illustrating an exemplary operation of a seconddocument printing process for a second pattern according to the secondembodiment;

FIG. 24 is a diagram illustrating an exemplary operation of a thirddocument printing process for a third pattern according to the secondembodiment;

FIG. 25 is a diagram illustrating an exemplary copying or printingconfirmation dialog according to the second embodiment;

FIG. 26 is a diagram illustrating an exemplary printing process detailsetting dialog according to the second embodiment;

FIG. 27 is a diagram illustrating an exemplary structure of a networksystem according to a third embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 28 is a diagram illustrating an exemplary operation of a firstdocument copying process for a first pattern according to the thirdembodiment;

FIG. 29 is a diagram illustrating an exemplary operation of a seconddocument copying process for a second pattern according to the thirdembodiment;

FIG. 30 is a diagram illustrating an exemplary operation of a thirddocument copying process for a third pattern according to the thirdembodiment;

FIG. 31 is a diagram illustrating an exemplary HTTP request for adocument writing request command using a ticket according to the thirdembodiment;

FIG. 32 is a diagram illustrating an exemplary HTTP responsecorresponding to the document writing request command according to thethird embodiment;

FIG. 33 is a diagram illustrating an exemplary HTTP request for awritable document type list request command according to the thirdembodiment;

FIG. 34 is a diagram illustrating an exemplary HTTP responsecorresponding to the writable document type list request commandaccording to the third embodiment;

FIG. 35 is a diagram illustrating an exemplary HTTP request for a pageimage writing request command according to the third embodiment;

FIG. 36 is a diagram illustrating an exemplary HTTP responsecorresponding to the page image writing request command according to thethird embodiment;

FIG. 37 is a diagram illustrating an exemplary copying manipulationscreen according to the third embodiment;

FIG. 38 is a diagram illustrating an exemplary copying confirmationdialog according to the third embodiment;

FIG. 39 is a diagram illustrating an exemplary plural document copyingmode setting dialog according to the third embodiment;

FIG. 40 is a diagram illustrating an exemplary plural document copyingorder setting dialog according to the third embodiment;

FIG. 41 is a diagram illustrating an exemplary structure of a networksystem according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 42 is an exemplary functional structures of two image formingapparatuses having no document process control part according to thefourth embodiment;

FIG. 43 is a diagram illustrating an exemplary functional structure of aterminal having a document process control part according to the fourthembodiment;

FIG. 44 is a diagram illustrating an exemplary operation of a PULL typedocument copying process according to the fourth embodiment;

FIG. 45 is a diagram illustrating an exemplary HTTP request for anacquirable document type list request command according to the fourthembodiment;

FIG. 46 is a diagram illustrating an exemplary HTTP responsecorresponding to the acquirable document type list request commandaccording to the fourth embodiment;

FIG. 47 is a diagram illustrating an exemplary HTTP request for adocument copying request command according to the fourth embodiment;

FIG. 48 is a diagram illustrating an exemplary HTTP responsecorresponding to the document copying request command according to thefourth embodiment;

FIG. 49 is a diagram illustrating an exemplary HTTP request for a pageimage request command according to the fourth embodiment;

FIG. 50 is a diagram illustrating an exemplary HTTP responsecorresponding to the page image request command according to the fourthembodiment;

FIG. 51 is a diagram illustrating an exemplary operation of a PUSH typedocument copying process according to the fourth embodiment;

FIG. 52 is a diagram illustrating an exemplary HTTP request for a pageimage writing request command according to the fourth embodiment;

FIG. 53 is a diagram illustrating an exemplary HTTP response for thepage image writing request command according to the fourth embodiment;

FIG. 54 is a diagram illustrating an exemplary structure of a networksystem according to a fifth embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 55 is a diagram illustrating an exemplary functional structure ofan image forming apparatus according to the fifth embodiment; and

FIG. 56 is a diagram illustrating an exemplary operation of a PULL typedocument printing sequence according to the fifth embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

In the following, embodiments of the present invention will be describedwith reference to the accompanying drawings.

A description is given, with reference to FIG. 1 through FIG. 19, of animage forming apparatus having a plurality of image forming functionsaccording to a first embodiment of the present invention.

First, an exemplary functional structure of an image forming apparatusaccording to the first embodiment is described with reference to FIG. 1.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary functional structureof an image forming apparatus 1200 having a plurality of image formingfunctions according to the first embodiment.

Referring to FIG. 1, the image forming apparatus 1200 comprises aplotter 1201, a scanner 1202, other hardware resources 1203, an engineinterface 1204, a software set 1210 and an activation part 1240. Theplotter 1201 and the scanner 1202 are hardware resources to performprinting processes and scanning processes, respectively. The softwareset 1210 comprises a platform 1220 and an application set 1230.

When the image forming apparatus 1200 is powered ON, the activation part1240 first activates the platform 1220, the application set 1230 andother components.

The software set 1210 further includes an application program interface(API) 1205 serving as an interface between the application set 1230 andthe platform 1220. The platform 1220 comprises a control service 1250, asystem resource manager (SRM) 1223 and an operating system (OS) 1221.The control service 1250, in response to receipt of a process requestfrom the application set 1230 via API 1205, interprets the processrequest and then requests a hardware item corresponding to the processrequest. SRM 1223 manages one or more hardware items in order to arrangethe request issued by the control service 1250.

The control service 1250 comprises a plurality of service modules asillustrated in FIG. 1. Specifically, the control service 1250 comprisesa system control service (SCS) 1222, an engine control service (ECS)1224, a memory control service (MCS) 1225, an operation panel controlservice (OCS) 1226, a FAX control service (FCS) 1227, a network controlservice (NCS) 1228 and an imaging memory handler (IMH) 1229.

OS 1221, which is implemented by one of operating systems such as UNIX®,executes individual software items of the platform 12200S 1221 canexecute individual applications of the application set 1230 as separateprocesses in parallel. If the image forming apparatus 1200 uses the opensource UNIX® as OS 1221, it is possible to assure safety of programs inthe image forming apparatus 1200. In addition, since the image formingapparatus 1200 can be connected to a network, it is possible to acquirea new source code of UNIX®, for example, when there occurs a significantchange on an original source code, through the network withoutdifficulty. Furthermore, it is unnecessary to pay royalties forUNIX®-based OS and TCP/IP. For this reason, UNIX®-based image formingapparatuses can be easily outsourced. In addition, UNIX®-based OS 1221differs from operating systems installed in personal computers (PC) withrespect to management mechanisms of hardware resources to processimages. In detail, UNIX®-based OS 1221 is capable of directlycontrolling hardware items in the image forming apparatus. On the otherhand, although PC is capable of controlling connected image formingdevices such as a scanner and a printer, PC cannot directly controlhardware resources installed in such image forming devices.

SRM 1223, together with SCS 1222, performs system control and resourcemanagement on the image forming apparatus 1200. When SRM 1223 receivesrequests to use the plotter 1201, the scanner 1202, a memory, a harddisk (HDD), and a host I/O device such as centronics I/F, a network I/F,an IEEE1394 I/F, an RS232 I/F from upper components thereof, SRM 1223arranges hardware resources and controls execution of the hardwareresources corresponding to these requests.

Specifically, SRM 1223 determines whether or not a requested hardwareitem is currently available, that is, whether or not the requestedhardware item is not being used for another request. If the requestedhardware item is determined to be currently available, SRM 1223 informsthe upper component issuing the request that the requested hardware itemis currently available. Alternatively, when SRM 1223 receives requests,such as paper feeding, image forming, memory reservation, file creation,from an upper component thereof, SRM 1223 may make an utilizationschedule of requested hardware resources and directly fulfill therequests by itself.

SCS 1222 can perform a plurality of functions such as an applicationmanagement function (Function #1), an operation part control function(Function #2), a system screen display function (Function #3), an LED(Light Emitting Diode) display function (Function #4), a resourcemanagement function (Function #5) and an interrupt application controlfunction (Function #6).

Specifically, the application management function (Function #1) informsexisting applications of both registration of a new application andinformation regarding the newly registered application. The operationpart control function (Function #2) provides an application withauthorization on exclusive use of the operation part. The system screendisplay part (Function #3), in response to receipt of a request fromsuch an authorized application, displays various types of alarm screenscorresponding to the current status of the engine part. The LED displayfunction (Function #4) controls displaying on system LED tools such asan alarm LED and an application key. The resource management function(Function #5) arranges occupation of exclusively used engine resources(a scanner, a stapling tool and so on) during execution of anapplication's job. The interrupt application control function (Function#6) assigns higher priority to execution of a certain application.

ECS 1224 controls the engine part comprising the plotter 1201, thescanner 1202 and other resources 1203. Specifically, ECS 1224 reads animage, prints out an image, informs the current status of the imageforming apparatus, recovers jam trouble, and so on.

MCS 1225 controls memories. Specifically, MCS 1225 acquires and releasesa memory area for an image, utilizes a hard disk device, andcompresses/decompresses image data.

OCS 1226 controls an operation panel that works as communication meansfor communicating information between a user and the system controllerof the image forming apparatus 1200. Specifically, OCS 1226 informs thesystem controller of a key manipulation event given by the user, offerslibrary functions whereby each application can construct GUI (GraphicalUser Interface), manages constructed GUI information for individualapplications, and displays the latest information on the operationpanel.

FCS 1227 offers API 1205 to transmit and receive data to/fromapplications by means of a facsimile via PSTN/ISDN (Public SwitchedTelephone Network/Integrated Services Digital Network), to register/citevarious types of FAX data managed by a backup SRAM (BKM), to read FAXdata, to print out received FAX data, and to provide a multiple FAXtransmission scheme where an Internet FAX or the like can be selectivelyused.

NCS 1228 offers services commonly available to applications that need anetwork I/O. Specifically, NCS 1228 distributes data received from thenetwork side in accordance with individual protocols to thecorresponding applications. In addition, when the applications send datato the network side, NCS 1228 acts as an intermediary agent betweenapplications and the network side NCS 1228 at least includes a httpd(Hypertext Transfer Protocol Daemon) 2 to control communications betweenthe image processing apparatus 1200, a usbd (Universal Serial BusDaemon) 2-1 to control communication via USB (Universal Serial Bus)connection, 1349d (Daemon) 2-2 to control communication via IEEE1349s, acentrod (Centronics Daemon) 2-3 to control communication via centronicconnection, a brts (Bluetooth Daemon) 2-4 to control communication viabluetooth connection, an ird (Infrared Daemon) 2-5 to control infraredcommunication, a scsid (SCSI Daemon) 2-6 to control communication viaSCSI connection, and external apparatuses connected via networks and aftpd (File Transfer Protocol Daemon) 3.

IMH 1229 maps image data from a virtual memory area to a physical memoryarea. Specifically, IMH 1229 provides a system call in response tostarting of a process, maps a virtual memory area for the process, andreleases the mapped virtual memory area in response to termination ofthe process.

The application set 1230 comprises a printer application 1211, a copyapplication 1212, a FAX application 1213, a scanner application 1214, anetwork file application 1215, a document management Web serviceapplication 1216 and a ticket management Web service application 1217.The printer application 1211 is for a printer having PDL (PageDescription Language), PCL (Printer Control Language) and PS(PostScript), as appreciated by those skilled in the art. The copyapplication 1212, the FAX application 1213, the scanner application 1214and the network file application 1215 are for a copier, a facsimile, ascanner and a network file, respectively. The document management Webservice application 1216 includes a document process control part 300 tocontrol a sequence of processes for performing cooperation with otherapparatuses. The ticket management Web service application 1217 issuesand manages a ticket for each document process. The entities of theseapplications 1211 through 1217 are screen display control programs tocontrol a screen and keys and to create jobs through execution ofprocesses on the platform 1220. Here, a new application may be installedvia a network connected to NCS 1228. Also, such applications installedin the image forming apparatus 1200 can be separately added or deleted.

In the image forming apparatus 1200, the platform 1220 is responsible tocollectively control processes commonly performed for the applicationsas described above.

A description is given, with reference to FIG. 2, of a hardwareconfiguration of the image forming apparatus 1200 according to thepresent invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary hardwareconfiguration of the image forming apparatus 1200 shown in FIG. 1.

Referring to FIG. 2, the image forming apparatus 1200 comprises acontroller 1300, an operation panel 1310, and an engine part 1350. Theengine part 1350 comprises a FCU (FAX control Unit) 1320, a plotter1201, a scanner 1202, and other hardware resources 1203. In the imageforming apparatus 1200, these individual components of the engine part1350 and ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit) 1301 of thecontroller 1300 are connected to each other via a PCI (PeripheralComponent Interconnect) bus 1309

FCU 1320 comprises a nonvolatile memory (NVM) 1321 to store received faxdata, and RTC (Real Time Clock) to measure time within FCU 1320. FCU1320 transmits and receives fax data in accordance with G3 standard, asappreciated by those skilled in the art FCU 1320 may further include aG3 option and a G4 option.

The controller 1300 comprises ASIC 1301, MEM-C 1302, HDD (Hard DiskDrive) 1303, CPU (Central Processing Unit) 1304, NB (North Bridge) 1305,MEM-P 1306, SB (South Bridge) 1307 and AGP (Accelerated Graphics Port)1308, each of which will be well-known by those skilled in the art, asillustrated in FIG. 2.

In the controller 1300, MEM-C 1302 and HDD 1303 are connected to ASIC1301, and ASIC 1301 is connected to CPU 1304 via NB 1305 of a CPU chipset. NB 1305 is used because any interface of CPU 1304 is not disclosed.

ASIC 1301 and NB 1305 are connected via not PCI 1309 but AGP 1308. AGP1308 is intended to prevent performance reduction. Since the imageforming apparatus 1200 executes and controls a plurality of processesfor the platform 1220 and the application set 1230 as illustrated inFIG. 1, there is a risk that the performance of the image formingapparatus 1200 may be lowered due to use of low-speed PCI.

CPU 1304 controls overall operations of the image forming apparatus1200. Specifically, CPU 1304 executes SCS 1222, SRM 1223, ECS 1224, MCS1225, OCS 1226, FCS 1227 and NCS 1228, which constitutes the platform1220, as individual processes on OS 1221. Also, CPU 1304 executes theprinter application 1211, the copier application 1212, the FAXapplication 1213, the scanner application 1214, the network fileapplication 1215, the document management Web service application 1216and the ticket management Web service application 1217, which constitutethe application set 1230.

NB 1305 serves as a bridge to connect between CPU 1304 and eachcomponent of MEM-P 1306, SE 1307 and ASIC 1301 MEM-P 1306 is a systemmemory used as graphic memory of the image forming apparatus 1200. MEM-C1302 is a local memory used as a copier image buffer and a code buffer.ASIC 1301 is an IC (Integrated Circuit) dedicated to image processinghaving image forming hardware components.

SB 1307 serves as a bridge to connect between NB 1305 and ROM (Read OnlyMemory), PCI devices and peripheral devices (not illustrated). SB 1307comprises RTC (Real Time Clock) 1323 to measure time within thecontroller 1300. Furthermore, SB 1307 comprises a USB host. In thiscase, image data can be imported by connecting to a camera via a USB.Also, data can be received from another USB target.

In the image forming apparatus 1200, data that are transmitted andreceived via the ports of SB 1307, NIC 1311, a USB target 1312,IEEE1394, a centronics 1314, a serial 1315, a USB host 1316, FCUstandard G3, a G3 option, and a G4 option are stored in HDD 1303 andcomprehensively managed therein. HDD 1303 is used as storage means forstoring image data, programs, font data and form data.

The operation panel 1310 accepts an input manipulated by an operator andshows an operator some information.

ASIC 1301 includes RAM (Random Access Memory) interface with MEM-C 1302and a hard disk interface with HDD 1303. When image data areinput/output in/from these storage means, the image data aretransmitted/received via the RAM interface or the hard disk interface.

AGP 1308 serves as a bus interface for a graphics accelerator cardproposed to improve the speed of graphic processing. AGP 1308 realizes ahigh-speed graphics accelerator card by directly accessing a systemmemory at a high throughput.

A description is given, with reference to the FIG. 3 through FIG. 19, ofa copying process performed by the image forming apparatus 1200according to a first embodiment of the present invention. In the firstembodiment, the image forming apparatus 1200 performs the copyingprocess, which is an embodiment of a Web service, on document data orimage data in cooperation with other apparatuses connected via anetwork. Here, a Web service means that the image forming apparatus 1200according to the first embodiment, in response to receipt of a servicerequest in the form of an HTTP request from other apparatuses connectedvia a network, performs a process corresponding to the service requestand provides the process result as an HTTP response to the apparatusrequesting the service.

A description is given, with reference to FIG. 3, of how the imageforming apparatus 1200 according to the first embodiment provides a Webservice to other apparatuses connected via a network.

FIG. 3 shows an exemplary structure of a network system according to thefirst embodiment. In the illustrated network system, the image formingapparatus 1200, an image forming apparatus 1000 having the fundamentallysame functions as the image forming apparatus 1200, and a terminal 30are connected to each other via a network 15. The image formingapparatus 1000 does not have to include the document process controlpart 300 in the document management Web service application 1216 shownin FIG. 1.

Referring to FIG. 3, document data or image data (hereinafter which arecollectively referred to as a document) stored in HDD 1303B of the imageforming apparatus 1000 are copied to the image forming apparatus 1200 inaccordance with illustrated three patterns. In this embodiment, theimage forming apparatus 1000, which serves as a document transmitterapparatus, sends a document stored therein to the image formingapparatus 1200. On the other hand, the image forming apparatus 1200,which serves as a document receiver apparatus, receives the documentfrom the image forming apparatus 1000, and the document is copied to theimage forming apparatus 1200 by storing the document in HDD 1303 of theimage forming apparatus 1200.

In the first pattern, a document stored in the image forming apparatus1000 is copied to the image forming apparatus 1200 through user'smanipulation on an operation panel 1310 of the image forming apparatus1200. In the second pattern, a document stored in the image formingapparatus 1000 is copied to the image forming apparatus 1200 throughuser's manipulation on an operation panel 1310B of the image formingapparatus 1000. In the third pattern, a document stored in the imageforming apparatus 1000 is copied to the image forming apparatus 1200through user's manipulation on a display part 13 of the terminal 30.

A description is given, with reference to FIG. 4 through FIG. 6, offunctional structures of the image forming apparatuses 1000 and 1200 andthe terminal 30.

FIG. 4 shows an exemplary functional structure of the image formingapparatus 1200 having the document process control part 300 according tothe first embodiment wherein only primary functional components of theimage forming apparatus 1200 are illustrated and the other functionalcomponents are omitted.

Referring to FIG. 4, the document management web service application1216 of the image forming apparatus 1200 comprises a server part 100, adocument management Web service execution part (WSF) 130, a client part200 and a document process control part 300.

The server part 100 controls message exchanges in accordance with SOAP.The document management Web service execution part 130, which serves asa Web service function (WSF) to provide Web services, manages documentsby accessing HDD 1303 accommodating the documents. The client part 200exchanges SOAP messages to request and provide Web services. Thedocument process control part 300, when the client part 200 performssome process on a document in response to notification from the serverpart 100, controls a sequence of processes associated with cooperationwith other connected apparatuses.

The server part 100 comprises a SOAP command analysis part 110 and aSOAP response creation part 120. The SOAP command analysis part 110analyzes SOAP commands incorporated in HTTP requests The SOAP responsecreation part 120 creates responses corresponding to the SOAP commandsas SOAP messages incorporated in HTTP responses.

When the image forming apparatus 1200 receives an HTTP request, the SOAPcommand analysis part 110 analyzes a SOAP command incorporated in theHTTP request, and informs the document management Web service executionpart 130 what Web service the document management Web service executionpart 130 should execute. In response to receipt of the notification fromthe SOAP command analysis part 110, for example, the document managementWeb service execution part 130 stores a processed document in HDD 1303,updates and deletes a document stored in HDD 1303, and acquiresbibliographic information regarding a document stored in HDD 1303.

The SOAP command analysis part 110 includes a SOAP command determinationpart 111. The SOAP command determination part 111 extracts a SOAPcommand from a received HTTP request, and then determines whether theSOAP command is for execution of a predetermined process in cooperationwith other apparatuses connected to the image forming apparatus 1200 viathe network 15. In such a SOAP command, for example, the image formingapparatus 1200 may be requested to receive a document to be processedfrom the image forming apparatus 1000 and perform a predeterminedprocess on the document. If the extracted SOAP command is associatedwith cooperation with other connected apparatuses, the SOAP commanddetermination part 111 informs a sequence control part 310, which is acomponent of the document process control part 300, of the SOAP command.In the first embodiment, the SOAP command determination part 111determines whether a SOAP command incorporated in a received HTTPrequest is a document copying request command to copy a selecteddocument from the image forming apparatus 1000 to the image formingapparatus 1200.

The SOAP response creation part 120, when the SOAP command analysis part110 requests the document management Web service execution part 130 toprocess a document, receives a process result of the document managementWeb service execution part 130, creates a SOAP message to indicate theprocess result, and uses httpd 2 of NCS 1228 to send the SOAP message asan HTTP response to the network 15. Also, the SOAP response creationpart 120 creates a SOAP message corresponding to a process resultinformed by the sequence control part 310 of the document processcontrol part 300.

The client part 200 comprises a SOAP command creation part 210 and aSOAP response interpretation part 220. The SOAP command creation part210 creates SOAP messages indicative of process requests in such a waythat the SOAP messages are incorporated in HTTP requests. The SOAPresponse interpretation part 220 interprets SOAP messages incorporatedin received HTTP responses.

The document process control part 300 comprises a sequence control part310 and a document type determination part 320. The sequence controlpart 310 controls a sequence of processes to copy a document stored inthe image forming apparatus 1000 to the image forming apparatus 1200 incooperation with the image forming apparatus 1000. The document typedetermination part 320 determines what document type is processable tothe image forming apparatus 1000 or 1200.

The sequence control part 310, in response to receipt of a SOAP commandassociated with cooperation with other apparatuses connected to theimage forming apparatus 1200 from the SOAP command analysis part 110 ofthe server part 100, requests the SOAP command creation part 210 of theclient part 200 to acquire a list of document types acquirable from theimage forming apparatus 1000. In response to receipt of the acquirabledocument type list from the SOAP response interpretation part 220, thesequence control part 310 requests the document type determination part320 to determine a document type processable to the image formingapparatuses 1000 and 1200. Then, the sequence control part 310 instructsthe SOAP command creation part 210 to request the image formingapparatus 1000 to send a page image in the format of the determineddocument type. In response to receipt of the page image from the imageforming apparatus 1000 corresponding to the page image request commandvia the SOAP response interpretation part 220, the sequence control part310 instructs the SOAP command creation part 210 to internally issue aSOAP command to store the page image in HDD 1303 to the SOAP commandanalysis part 110 of the server part 100. In response to receipt of theprocess request from the SOAP command analysis part 110, the documentmanagement Web service execution part 130 stores the page image in HDD1303.

In order to determine the best document type, the document typedetermination part 320 determines whether there is a processabledocument type shared in a transmitter document type list 302 and areceiver document type list 304 sent from the sequence control part 310.Here, the transmitter document type list 302 includes document typesacquirable from the image forming apparatus 1000. On the other hand, thereceiver document type list 304 includes document types writable in theimage forming apparatus 1200. The document type determination part 320informs the sequence control part 310 of the determined document type.

A description is given, with reference to FIG. 5, of a functionalstructure of the image forming apparatus 1000 according to the firstembodiment. In the first embodiment, the image forming apparatus 1000serves as a document transmitted apparatus to send a document storedtherein to the image forming apparatus 1200.

FIG. 5 shows an exemplary functional structure of the image formingapparatus 1000 having no document process control part 300 according tothe first embodiment wherein the same parts as those of the imageforming apparatus 1200 shown in FIG. 4 are designated by the samereference numerals followed by the letter “B”. The image formingapparatus 1000 has the same functional components except that the imageforming apparatus 1000 does not have the document process control part300.

Referring to FIG. 5, a SOAP command analysis part 110B of a server part100B, in response to receipt of an HTTP request from the image formingapparatus 1200 or the terminal 30 via httpd 2B of NCS 1228B, analyzes aSOAP command incorporated in the HTTP request, and requests a documentmanagement Web service execution part 130B, which serves as a Webservice function (WSF) to provide Web services, to perform a processcorresponding to the SOAP command. A SOAP response creation part 120B ofthe server part 100B, in response to receipt of a process result of thedocument management Web service execution part 130B, creates a SOAPresponse corresponding to the process result, and sends the HTTPresponse as a Web service to the image forming apparatus 1200 or theterminal 30 via httpd 2B of NCS 1228.

The document management Web service execution part 130B, in response toreceipt of the process request from the SOAP command analysis part 110B,the document management Web service execution part 130B acquires adocument list, thumbnail data, bibliographic information, a processabledocument type list or a page image from HDD 1303B, and then sends theacquired information as the process result to the SOAP response creationpart 120B.

The SOAP command creation part 210B of the client part 200B, in responseto manipulation of a user, issues a process request using a ticket tothe image forming apparatus 1200. The SOAP response interpretation part220B of the client part 200B interprets a process result sent from theimage forming apparatus 1200.

A description is given, with reference to FIG. 6, of a functionalstructure of the terminal 30 having no document process control part 300according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 6 shows an exemplary functional structure of the terminal 30 havingno document process control part 300 according to the first embodiment.

Referring to FIG. 6, the terminal 30, which is embodied, for example, asPC 30-1, a mobile phone 30-2 or PDA (Personal digital Assistant) 30-2,comprises a network control part 330, a client part 200C, aninput/output (I/O) control part 340 and a display part 13. The networkcontrol part 330 controls communications via the network 15 inaccordance with HTTP. The client part 200C controls exchanging of SOAPmessages. The I/O control part 340 controls input/output of data betweenthe terminal 30 and a user of the terminal. The display part 13 displaysdata supplied from the I/O control part 340.

In the terminal 30, a user selects a target document to be copied fromlisted documents, which are displayed on the display part 13, stored inthe image forming apparatus 1000 by means of an input device (notillustrated) such as a mouse or a keyboard, and then designates theimage forming apparatus 1200 as an apparatus to which the selecteddocument should be copied. When the user inputs data, the I/O controlpart 340 sends the data to the SOAP command creation part 210C. Based onthe data sent from the I/O control part 340, the SOAP command creationpart 210C generates a SOAP command to copy the selected document fromthe image forming apparatus 1000 to the image forming apparatus 1200,and sends the SOAP command to the network control part 330. The networkcontrol part 330 sends the SOAP command as an HTTP request to the imageforming apparatus 1200.

The network control part 330, in response to receipt of an HTTP responsefrom the image forming apparatus 1200, sends the HTTP response to theSOAP response interpretation part 220C of the client part 200C. The SOAPresponse interpretation part 220C extracts a process result from theHTTP response, and sends the process result to the I/O control part 340so as to display the process result on the display part 13. The I/Ocontrol part. 340 displays the process result on the display part 13.

A description is given, with reference to FIG. 7, of a first documentcopying process for the above-mentioned first pattern in FIG. 3according to the first embodiment. In the first pattern, a selecteddocument stored in the image forming apparatus 1000 is copied to theimage forming apparatus 1200 through user's manipulation on theoperation panel 1310 of the image forming apparatus 1200.

FIG. 7 shows an exemplary operation of the first document copyingprocess for the first pattern according to the first embodiment.

Referring to FIG. 7, a user of the image forming apparatus 1200 selectsthe image forming apparatus 1000 accommodating a desired document fromlisted apparatuses, which is displayed on the operation panel 1310,connected to the image forming apparatus 1200 via the network 15 at stepS110.

At step S111, the image forming apparatus 1200 sends to the imageforming apparatus 1000 a document list request command to request a listof documents stored in the image forming apparatus 1000.

At step S111-2, the image forming apparatus 1000, in response to receiptof the document list request command from the image forming apparatus1200, uses the document management Web service execution part 130B toacquire the document list from HDD 1303B and sends the document list tothe image forming apparatus 1200.

At step S112, the image forming apparatus 1200, in response to receiptof the document list from the image forming apparatus 1000, sends to theimage forming apparatus 1000 a thumbnail request command to requestthumbnail data to be displayed on the operation panel 1310.

At step S112-2, when the image forming apparatus 1000 receives thethumbnail request command from the image forming apparatus 1200, thedocument management Web service execution part 130B operatescorresponding to the thumbnail request command. Then, the image formingapparatus 1000 sends to the image forming apparatus 1200 the thumbnaildata acquired by the document management Web service execution part130B. For example, the thumbnail data are reduced-size image data of thetop pages of documents stored in the image forming apparatus 1000.

At step S113, when the document list of the image forming apparatus 1000is displayed in thumbnail representation on the operation panel 1310 ofthe image forming apparatus 1200, the user determines which documentshould be copied to which apparatus by dragging and dropping a thumbnailof a desired document to a desired apparatus. In this embodiment, theuser drags and drops a document stored in the image forming apparatus1000 to the image forming apparatus 1200.

At step S114, the image forming apparatus 1200 sends to the imageforming apparatus 1000 a bibliographic information request command torequest bibliographic information regarding the selected document.

At step S114-2, the image forming apparatus 1000, in response to receiptof the bibliographic information request command from the image formingapparatus 1200, uses the document management Web service execution part130B to acquire the bibliographic information from HDD 1303B and sendsthe bibliographic information to the image forming apparatus 1200.

At step S115, the image forming apparatus 1200, in response to receiptof the bibliographic information from the image forming apparatus 1000,internally acquires system information regarding the image formingapparatus 1200, and examines feasibility of the copying process using aticket based on the system information.

At step S116, the image forming apparatus 1200 displays a copyingconfirmation dialog on the operation panel 1310.

When the user chooses OK to start the copying process at step S117, thesequence control part 310 of the image forming apparatus 1200 starts thecopying process in cooperation with the image forming apparatus 1000.

At step S118, the image forming apparatus 1200 send to the image formingapparatus 1000 an acquirable document type list request command torequest a list of document types acquirable from the image formingapparatus 1000.

At step S118-2, the image forming apparatus 1000, in response to receiptthe acquirable document type list request command from the image formingapparatus 1200, sends the acquirable document type list to the imageforming apparatus 1200.

At step S119, the image forming apparatus 1200, in response to receiptof the acquirable document type list from the image forming apparatus1000, maintains the acquirable document type list as a transmitterdocument type list 302. Furthermore, the sequence control part 310 ofthe image forming apparatus 1200 internally issues a writable documenttype list request command to request a list of document types writablein the image forming apparatus 1200, and sets the writable document typelist as a receiver document type list 304.

At step S120, the sequence control 310 of the image forming apparatus1200 uses the document type determination part 320 to determine whetheror not there is a document type acquirable from the image formingapparatus 1000 and writable in the image forming apparatus 1200 based onthe transmitter document type list 302 and the receiver document typelist 304, and then determines the best document type. Based on thedetermination, if there are a plurality of such document types, thedocument type determination part 320 determines one of the documenttypes as the best document type. If there is no such a document type,the document type determination part 320 determines a predetermineddocument type as the best document type. Then, the sequence control part310 instructs the SOAP command creation part 210 to send to the imageforming apparatus 1200 a ticket request command as a SOAP command.

At step S121, the image forming apparatus 1200 sends to the imageforming apparatus 1000 such a ticket request command to request a ticketto use the selected document.

At step S121-2, the image forming apparatus 1000, in response to receiptof the ticket request command from the image forming apparatus 1200,sends the ticket to the image forming apparatus 1200 so that the imageforming apparatus 1200 can perform the copying process for the imageforming apparatus 1000 through the ticket management Web serviceapplication 1217.

At step S122, the image forming apparatus 1200, in response to receiptof the ticket from the image forming apparatus 1000, internally issues adocument copying request to copy the selected document stored in theimage forming apparatus 1000 by authority of the ticket. Namely, theimage forming apparatus 1200 creates a document copying request commandas a SOAP command issued to the image forming apparatus 1200 itself.

At step S123, the image forming apparatus 1200, in response to receiptof the internally issued document copying request command, sends to theimage forming apparatus 1000 a page image request command to request apage image in the format of the determined document type designated inthe ticket in the page image request command.

At step S123-2, the image forming apparatus 1000, in response to receiptof the page image request command from the image forming apparatus 1200,sends to the image forming apparatus 1200 a page image of the selecteddocument in the format of the document type. In the page image requestcommand, for example, a plurality of page images of the selecteddocument may be designated. Alternatively, whenever the image formingapparatus 1200 receives each page image from the image forming apparatus1000, the image forming apparatus 1200 may iteratively send to the imageforming apparatus 1000 a page image request command for the next pageimage.

At step S124, the image forming apparatus 1200 stores the page imagesent from the image forming apparatus 1000 in HDD 1303.

At step S125, after storing all page images in HDD 1303, the imageforming apparatus 1200 displays on the operation panel 1310 a copyingcompletion dialog to indicate that the copying process has beenterminated.

In the image forming apparatus 1200, which serves as the documentreceiver apparatus, the SOAP command creation part 210 of the clientpart 200 sets request commands sent to the image forming apparatus 1000as SOAP commands incorporated in messages of HTTP requests (S111, S112,S114, S118, S121 and S123). The SOAP response interpretation part 220 ofthe client part 200 extracts HTTP responses for process resultscorresponding to the HTTP requests.

On the other hand, in the image forming apparatus 1000, which serves asthe document transmitter apparatus, the SOAP command analysis part 110Bof the server part 100B analyzes received request commands as SOAPcommands, and the document management Web service execution part 130Bexecutes processes corresponding to the HTTP requests. The SOAP responsecreation part 120B of the server part 100B provides the image formingapparatus 1200 with process results of the document management Webservice execution part 130B as Web services (S111-2, S112-2, S114-2,S118-2, S121-2 and S123-2).

According to the above-mentioned first document copying process, when auser of the image forming apparatus 1200 having the document processcontrol part 300 selects a document stored in the image formingapparatus 1000, the document can be copied from the image formingapparatus 1000 to the image forming apparatus 1200 by storing thedocument in HDD 1303 of the image forming apparatus 1200 in anappropriate document type.

A description is given, with reference to FIG. 8, of a second documentcopying process for the above-mentioned second pattern in FIG. 3according to the first embodiment. In the second pattern, a selecteddocument stored in the image forming apparatus 1000 is copied to theimage forming apparatus 1200 through user's manipulation on theoperation panel 1310B of the image forming apparatus 1000.

FIG. 8 shows an exemplary operation of the second document copyingprocess for the second pattern according to the first embodiment.

Referring to FIG. 8, a user of the image forming apparatus 1000 selectsthe image forming apparatus 1000 accommodating a desired document fromlisted apparatuses, which is displayed on the operation panel 1310B,connected to the image forming apparatus 1000 via the network 15 at stepS130.

At step S131, the image forming apparatus 1000 internally issues adocument list request command to request a list of documents stored inthe image forming apparatus 1000, and uses the document management Webservice execution part 130B to acquire the document list from HDD 1303B.

At step S132, the image forming apparatus 1000, in response toacquisition of the document list, internally issues a thumbnail requestcommand to request thumbnail data to be displayed on the operation panel1310B, and uses the document management Web service execution part 130Bto acquire the thumbnail data. Based on the thumbnail data, the imageforming apparatus 1000 displays on the operation panel 1310B thedocument list in thumbnail representation. For example, the thumbnaildata are reduced-size image data of the top pages of documents stored inthe image forming apparatus 1000.

At step S133, when the document list of the image forming apparatus 1000is displayed in thumbnail representation on the operation panel 1310B ofthe image forming apparatus 1000, the user determines which documentshould be copied to which apparatus by dragging and dropping a thumbnailof a desired document to a desired apparatus. In this embodiment, theuser drags and drops a document stored in the image forming apparatus1000 toward the image forming apparatus 1200.

At step S134, the image forming apparatus 1000 internally issues abibliographic information request command to request bibliographicinformation regarding the selected document, and uses the documentmanagement Web service execution part 130B to acquire the bibliographicinformation from HDD 1303B.

At step S135, the image forming apparatus 1000 sends to the imageforming apparatus 1200 a system information request command to requestsystem information regarding the image forming apparatus 1200.

At step 135-2, the image forming apparatus 1200, in response to receiptof the system information request command from the image formingapparatus 1000, sends to the image forming apparatus 1000 the systeminformation including ticket information to indicate feasibility of thecopying process using a ticket.

At step S136, the image forming apparatus 1000, in response to receiptof the system information from the image forming apparatus 1200,displays a copying confirmation dialog on the operation panel 1310B.

When the user chooses OK to start the copying process at step S137, theimage forming apparatus 1000 uses the ticket management Web application1217 to internally issue a ticket at step S138.

At step S139, the image forming apparatus 1000 send to the image formingapparatus 1200 a document copying request command to copy the selecteddocument by authority of the internally issued ticket.

At step S140, the image forming apparatus 1200, in response to receiptof the document copying request command from the image forming apparatus1000, uses the document process control part 300 to start the copyingprocess in cooperation with the image forming apparatus 1000. Then, theimage forming apparatus 1200 sends to the image forming apparatus 1000an acquirable document type list request command to request a list ofdocument types acquirable from the image forming apparatus 1000.

At step S140-2, the image forming apparatus 1000, in response to receiptof the acquirable document type list request command from the imageforming apparatus 1200, sends the acquirable document type list to theimage forming apparatus 1200.

At step S141, the image forming apparatus 1200, in response to receiptof the acquirable document type list from the image forming apparatus1000, maintains the acquirable document type list as a transmitterdocument type list 302. Furthermore, the sequence control part 310 ofthe image forming apparatus 1200 internally issues a writable documenttype list request command to request a list of document types writablein the image forming apparatus 1200, and sets the writable document typelist as a receiver document type list 304.

At step S142, the sequence control 310 of the image forming apparatus1200 uses the document type determination part 320 to determine whetheror not there is a document type acquirable from the image formingapparatus 1000 and writable in the image forming apparatus 1200 based onthe transmitter document type list 302 and the receiver document typelist 304, and then determines the best document type. Based on thedetermination, if there are a plurality of such document types, thedocument type determination part 320 determines one of the documenttypes as the best document type. If there is no such a document type,the document type determination part 320 determines a predetermineddocument type as the best document type.

At step S143, the sequence control part 310 instructs the SOAP commandcreation part 210 to send to the image forming apparatus 1000 a pageimage request command using the ticket, in which the determined documenttype is specified, as a SOAP command.

At step S143-2, the image forming apparatus 1000, in response to receiptof the page image request command from the image forming apparatus 1200,sends to the image forming apparatus 1200 a page image of the selecteddocument in the format of the document type specified in the ticket. Inthe page image request command, for example, a plurality of page imagesof the selected document may be designated. Alternatively, whenever theimage forming apparatus 1200 receives each page image from the imageforming apparatus 1000, the image forming apparatus 1200 may iterativelysend to the image forming apparatus 1000 a page image request commandfor the next page image.

At step S144, the image forming apparatus 1200 stores the page imagesent from the image forming apparatus 1000 in HOD 1303.

At step S144-2, after storing all page images in HDD 1303, the imageforming apparatus 1200 uses the sequence control part 310 to send acopying completion acknowledge to the image forming apparatus 1000.

At step S145, the image forming apparatus 1000, in response to receiptof the copying completion message from the image forming apparatus 1200,displays on the operation panel 1310B a copying completion dialog toindicate that the copying process has been terminated.

In the image forming apparatus 1200, which serves as the documentreceiver apparatus, the SOAP command creation part 210 of the clientpart 200 sets request commands sent to the image forming apparatus 1000as SOAP commands incorporated in messages of HTTP requests (S140 andS143). The SOAP response interpretation part 220 of the client part 200extracts HTTP responses for process results corresponding to the HTTPrequests. Also, the SOAP command analysis part 110 of the server part100 analyzes request command received from the image forming apparatus1000 as SOAP commands, and determines whether the SOAP commands aredocument copying request commands using a ticket.

On the other hand, in the image forming apparatus 1000, which serves asthe document transmitter apparatus, the SOAP command creation part 210Bof the client part 200B sets request commands sent to the image formingapparatus 1200 as SOAP commands incorporated in messages of HTTPrequests (S135 and S139), and the SOAP response interpretation part 220Bof the client part 200B extracts HTTP responses for process resultscorresponding to the HTTP requests. Also, the SOAP command analysis part110B of the server part 100B analyzes request commands received from theimage forming apparatus 1200 as SOAP commands.

According to the above-mentioned second document copying process, when auser of the image forming apparatus 1000 having no document processcontrol part 300 selects a document stored in the image formingapparatus 1000, the document can be copied from the image formingapparatus 1000 to the image forming apparatus 1200 by storing thedocument in HDD 1303 of the image forming apparatus 1200 in anappropriate document type.

A description is given, with reference to FIG. 9, of a third documentcopying process for the above-mentioned third pattern in FIG. 3according to the first embodiment.

In the third pattern, a selected document stored in the image formingapparatus 1000 is copied to the image forming apparatus 1200 throughuser's manipulation on the display part 13 of the terminal 30.

FIG. 9 shows an exemplary operation of the third document copyingprocess for the third pattern according to the first embodiment.

Referring to FIG. 9, a user of the terminal 30 selects the image formingapparatus 1000 accommodating a desired document from listed apparatuses,which are displayed on the display part 13, connected to the terminal 30via the network 15 at step S150.

At step S151, the terminal 30 sends to the image forming apparatus 1000a document list request command to request a list of documents stored inthe image forming apparatus 1000.

At step S151-2, the image forming apparatus 1000, in response to receiptof the document list request command from the terminal 30, uses thedocument management Web service execution part 130B to acquire thedocument list from HDD 1303B and sends the document list to the terminal30.

At step S152, the terminal 30, in response to receipt of the documentlist from the image forming apparatus 1000, sends to the image formingapparatus 1000 a thumbnail request command to request thumbnail data tobe displayed on the display panel 13.

At step S152-2, when the image forming apparatus 1000 receives thethumbnail request command from the terminal 30, the document managementWeb service execution part 130B operates corresponding to the thumbnailrequest command. Then, the image forming apparatus 1000 uses thedocument management Web service execution part 130B to acquire thethumbnail data from HDD 1303B and sends the thumbnail data to theterminal 30. For example, the thumbnail data are reduced-size image dataof the top pages of documents stored in the image forming apparatus1000.

At step S153, when the document list of the image forming apparatus 1000is displayed in thumbnail representation on the display part 13 of theterminal 30, the user determines which document should be copied towhich apparatus by dragging and dropping a thumbnail of a desireddocument toward a desired apparatus. In this embodiment, the user dragsand drops a document stored in the image forming apparatus 1000 towardthe image forming apparatus 1200.

At step S154, the terminal 30 sends to the image forming apparatus 1000a bibliographic information request command to request bibliographicinformation regarding the selected document.

At step S154-2, the image forming apparatus 1000, in response to receiptof the bibliographic information request command from the terminal 30,uses the document management Web service execution part 130B to acquirethe bibliographic information from HDD 1303B and sends the bibliographicinformation to the terminal 30.

At step S155, the terminal 30, in response to receipt of thebibliographic information from the image forming apparatus 1000, sendsto the image forming apparatus 1200 a system information request commandto request system information regarding the image forming apparatus1200.

At step S155-2, the terminal 30, in response to receipt of the systeminformation from the image forming apparatus 1200, examines feasibilityof the copying process using a ticket.

At step S156, the terminal 30 displays a copying confirmation dialog onthe display part 13.

When the user chooses OK to start the copying process at step S157, theterminal 30 sends to the image forming apparatus 1000 a ticket requestcommand to request a ticket to use the selected document stored in theimage forming apparatus at step S158.

At step S158-2, the image forming apparatus 1000, in response to receiptof the ticket request command from the terminal 30, sends the ticket tothe terminal 30.

At step S159, the terminal 30, in response to receipt the ticket fromthe image forming apparatus 1000, sends to the image forming apparatus1200 a document copying request command to copy the selected documentfrom the image forming apparatus 1000 by authority of the ticket.

At step S160, when the image forming apparatus 1200 receives thedocument copying request command from the terminal 30, the sequencecontrol part 310 of the image forming apparatus 1200 starts the copyingprocess in cooperation with the image forming apparatus 1000. Then, theimage forming apparatus 1200 uses the sequence control part 310 to sendto the image forming apparatus 1000 an acquirable document type listrequest command to request a list of document types acquirable from theimage forming apparatus 1000.

At step S160-2, the image forming apparatus 1000, in response to receiptthe acquirable document type list request command from the image formingapparatus 1200, sends the acquirable document type list to the imageforming apparatus 1200.

At step S161, the image forming apparatus 1200, in response to receiptof the acquirable document type list from the image forming apparatus1000, maintains the acquirable document type list as a transmitterdocument type list 302. Furthermore, the sequence control part 310 ofthe image forming apparatus 1200 internally issues a writable documenttype list request command to request a list of document types writablein the image forming apparatus 1200, and sets the writable document typelist as a receiver document type list 304.

At step S162, the sequence control part 310 of the image formingapparatus 1200 uses the document type determination part 320 todetermine whether or not there is a document type acquirable from theimage forming apparatus 1000 and writable in the image forming apparatus1200 based on the transmitter document type list 302 and the receiverdocument type list 304, and then determines the best document type.Based on the determination, if there are a plurality of such documenttypes, the document type determination part 320 determines one of thedocument types as the best document type. If there is no such a documenttype, the document type determination part 320 determines apredetermined document type as the best document type. Then, thesequence control part 310 instructs the SOAP command creation part 210to send to the image forming apparatus 1000 a page image request commandto request a page image of the selected document by authority of theticket as a SOAP command.

At step S163, the image forming apparatus 1200 sends to the imageforming apparatus 1000 the page image request command to request a pageimage of the selected document in the format of the document typedesignated in the ticket.

At step S163-2, the image forming apparatus 1000, in response to thepage image request command from the image forming apparatus 1200, sendsto the image forming apparatus 1200 a page image of the selecteddocument in the format of the designated document type. In the pageimage request command, for example, a plurality of page images of theselected document may be designated. Alternatively, whenever the imageforming apparatus 1200 receives each page image from the image formingapparatus 1000, the image forming apparatus 1200 may iteratively send tothe image forming apparatus 1000 a page image request command for thenext page image.

At step S164, the image forming apparatus 1200 stores the page imagesent from the image forming apparatus 1000 in HDD 1303.

At step S164-2, after storing all page images of the selected documentin HDD 1303, the image forming apparatus 1200 sends to the terminal 30,which issues the document copying request command at step S159, acopying completion message to indicate that the copying process has beenterminated.

At step S165, the terminal 30, in response to receipt of the copyingcompletion message from the image forming apparatus 1200, displays ondisplay part 13 a copying completion dialog to indicate that the copyingprocess has been terminated.

In the terminal 30, which serves as an operator apparatus, the SOAPcommand creation part 210C of the client part 200C sets request commandssent to the image forming apparatuses 1000 and 1200 as SOAP commandsincorporated in messages of HTTP requests (S151, S152, S154, S155, S158and S159). The SOAP response interpretation part 220C of the client part200C extracts HTTP responses for process results corresponding to theHTTP requests.

In the image forming apparatus 1000, which serves as the documenttransmitter apparatus, the SOAP command analysis part 110B of the serverpart 100B analyzes request commands received from the terminal 30 andthe image forming apparatus 1200 as SOAP commands, and the documentmanagement Web service execution part 130B executes processescorresponding to the HTTP requests The SOAP response creation part 120Bof the server part 100B provides the image forming apparatus 1200 andthe terminal 30 with process results of the document management Webservice execution part 130B as Web services (S151-2, S152-2, S154-2 andS158-2).

On the other hand, in the image forming apparatus 1200, which serves asthe document receiver apparatus, the SOAP command creation part 210 ofthe client part 200 sets request commands sent to the image formingapparatus 1000 as SOAP commands incorporated in messages of HTTPrequests (S160 and S163). The SOAP response interpretation part 220 ofthe client part 200 extracts HTTP responses for process resultscorresponding to the HTTP requests. Also, the SOAP command analysis part110 of the server part 100 analyzes received request command as SOAPcommands, and the SOAP response creation part 120 of the server part 100provides the terminal 30 with process results corresponding to the SOAPcommands as Web services (S155-2 and S164-2).

According to the above-mentioned third document copying process, when auser of the terminal 30 selects a document stored in the image formingapparatus 1000, the document can be copied from the image formingapparatus 1000 to the image forming apparatus 1200 having the documentprocess control part 300 by storing the document in HDD 1303 of theimage forming apparatus 1200 in an appropriate document type.

A description is given, with reference to FIG. 10 through FIG. 15, ofthe above-mentioned individual HTTP requests and the corresponding HTTPresponses according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 10 shows an exemplary HTTP request for a document copying requestcommand using a ticket.

Referring to FIG. 10, a code portion 31 indicates a URL (UniformResource Locator) to which the HTTP request should be sent by POSTmethod. For example, the URL “netdoc” is designated in the code portion31. Furthermore, a code portion 32 indicates a URL to indicate thepurpose of the HTTP request. For example, the URL“http://foo.bar.com/netdoc/documentmanagement” is described in the codeportion 32 to designate document management as the purpose of the HTTPrequest.

In a code portion 33, a SOAP header is provided to indicate a rootelement. In a code portion 34, a SOAP body is provided. The code portion34 includes a code portion 35 ranging from <ns:documentmanagement> to</ns:documentmanagement>. In the code portion 35, a SOAP command tospecify a requested process, information referred to for the process andothers are described. In the document copying request command using aticket, a ticket number is specified in a code portion 36 ranging from<ticketId> to </ticketId>, and the SOAP command is specified in a codeportion 37 ranging from <operation> to </operation>. For example, “123”and “getFileByTicket” are designated as the ticket number and the SOAPcommand, respectively, in the illustration.

FIG. 11 shows an exemplary HTTP response corresponding to the HTTPrequest shown in FIG. 10.

Referring to FIG. 11, a code portion 42 indicates that the HTTP requestshown in FIG. 10 has been successfully fulfilled. In a code portion 43,a SOAP header is provided to indicate a root element. In a code portion44, a SOAP body is provided. The code portion 44 includes a code portion45 ranging from <ns:documentmanagementResponse> to</ns:documentmanagementResponse>. In the code portion 45, “success” toindicate that the requested process has been successfully terminated isdescribed.

FIG. 12 shows an exemplary HTTP request for an acquirable document typelist request command according to the first embodiment. In FIG. 12, thesame code portions as those shown in FIG. 10 are designated by the samereference numerals, and the description thereof is omitted.

Referring to FIG. 12, a code portion 34 is the SOAP body of the HTTPrequest. In a code portion 50 ranging from <operation> to </operation>,a SOAP command “getFileVariation” is designated.

FIG. 13 shows an exemplary HTTP response corresponding to the HTTPrequest shown in FIG. 12. In FIG. 13, the same code portions as thoseshown in FIG. 11 are designated by the same reference numerals, and thedescription thereof is omitted.

Referring to FIG. 13, a code portion 44 is the SOAP body of the HTTPresponse. In code portions 52, 53 and 54, each of which ranges from<type> to </type>, three document types acquirable from the imageforming apparatus 1000 are set. In the code portion 52, a compressionformat of image data is designated as “Tiff” by sandwiching between<format> and </format>. An image type is designated as “1 bit/dot” bysandwiching between <imageType> and </imageType>. A resolution isdesignated as “600×600” by sandwiching between <binary> and </binary>.In the code portion 53, a compression format of image data is designatedas “Jpeg” by sandwiching between <format> and </format>. An image typeis designated as “8 bit/dot” by sandwiching between <imageType> and</imageType>. A resolution is designated as “300×300” by sandwichingbetween <binary> and </binary>. In the code portion 54, a compressionformat of image data is designated as “Jpeg2000” by sandwiching between<format> and </format>. An image type is designated as “8 bit/dot” bysandwiching between <imageType> and </imageType>. A resolution isdesignated as “600×600” by sandwiching between <binary> and </binary>.

When the image forming apparatus 1200 receives such an HTTP response,the SOAP response interpretation part 220 extracts document types fromthe code portions 52 through 54, and the document types {“Tiff”, “1bit/dot”, 600×600}, {“Jpeg”, “8 bit/dot”, 300×300} and {“Jpeg2000”, “8bit/dot”, 600×600} are set as a transmitter document type list 302. Onthe other hand, for example, when the image forming apparatus 1200acquires document types {“Tiff”, “8 bit/dot”, 600×600} and {“Jpeg”, “8bit/dot”, 300×300} by internally issuing an acquirable document typelist request command, the document types {“Tiff”, “8 bit/dot”, 600×600}and {“Jpeg”, “8 bit/dot”, 300×300} are set as a receiver document typelist 304. The document type determination part 320 determines whether ornot there is a document type commonly included in the transmitterdocument type list 302 and the receiver document type list 304. In thisexample, the document type determination part 320 selects the documenttype {“Jpeg”, “8 bit/dot”, 300×300}, because only the document type{“Jpeg”, “8 bit/dot”, 300×300} is commonly included in the transmitterdocument type list 302 and the receiver document type list 304. Thedetermined document type is set in an HTTP request as illustrated inFIG. 14.

FIG. 14 shows an exemplary HTTP request for a page image request commandaccording to the first embodiment. In FIG. 14, the same code portions asthose shown in FIG. 10 are designated by the same reference numerals,and the description thereof is omitted.

Referring to FIG. 14, in a code portion 59, the document type {“Jpeg”,“8 bit/dot”, 300×300} is specified by sandwiching between <type> and</type>. In addition, in a code portion 60, the SOAP command“getFile(TicketID)” is specified by sandwiching between <operation and</operation>. In the illustrated HTTP request, “Jpeg”, “8 bit/dot” and“300×300” are designated as the image data format, the image type andthe resolution, respectively. In addition, “getFile(TicketID)” isdesignated as the SOAP command.

FIG. 15 shows an exemplary HTTP response corresponding to the HTTPrequest shown in FIG. 14. In FIG. 15, the same code portions as thoseshown in FIG. 11 are designated by the same reference numerals, and thedescription thereof is omitted.

Referring to FIG. 15, a code portion 61 indicates that there are aplurality of differently formatted data items in the HTTP response. Incode portions 66, “XX_boundary” indicates a boundary between the dataitems. In a code portion 62, text data information is provided. Forexample, the text data information may include a text description type,a code type, and the length of the text data. In a code portion 63,“success” is provided between <result> and </result> to indicate thatthe page image request command has been successfully fulfilled.

On the other hand, in a code portion 64, image data information isprovided. For example, the image data information may include an imagedata type, a transferred data type such as “text” or “binary”, and thelength of the image data. Subsequently, image data 65 are provided. Forexample, if the data type is “Tiff” and the transferred data type is“binary”, the binary Tiff image data 65 are provided.

In order to copy a document stored in the image forming apparatus 1000,the image forming apparatus 1200 extracts the binary Tiff image datafrom the HTTP response shown in FIG. 15 and stores the image data in HDD1303.

In the above description, the HTTP request incorporating image data issent to the image forming apparatus 1200. However, the image data may betransmitted and received, for example, in accordance with file transferprotocol (ftp3).

In the first embodiment of the present invention, the following SOAPcommands are used.

TABLE 1 SOAP command Operation getList get a document list getThumbnailget thumbnail images getFileInfo get file bibliographic informationgetSystemInfo get system information getFileVariation get an acquirableor writable document type list getCopyTicket get a ticket to copy adocument copyFileByTicket copy document data through a ticketgetFile(TicketID) get a document corresponding to a ticket

These SOAP commands are designated by sandwiching between <operation>and </operation> in a SOAP body as described with reference to FIG. 10,FIG. 12 and FIG. 14.

A description is given, with reference to FIG. 16 through FIG. 19, ofexemplary screens displayed on the operation panels 1310 and 1310B andthe display part 13 according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 16 shows an exemplary copying manipulation screen 400 according tothe first embodiment.

Referring to FIG. 16, the copying manipulation screen 400 includes anapparatus list display area 401 to display a list of apparatusesconnected to each other via the network 15, and a thumbnail display area402 to display thumbnails of individual documents stored in an apparatusselected in the apparatus list display area 401.

In the copying manipulation screen 400, for example, when a user selectsthe image forming apparatus 1000 as a document transmitter apparatusfrom listed apparatuses displayed on the apparatus list display area401, a list of documents stored in the image forming apparatus 1000 isdisplayed in thumbnail representation in the thumbnail display area 402.In the thumbnail display area 402, the user selects a document A andfurther designates the image forming apparatus 1200 as a documentreceiver apparatus through user's dragging and dropping operations bymeans of an arrow 403, as illustrated in FIG. 16. At this time, the usermay select a plurality of documents.

When the user designates the image forming apparatus 1200 as thedocument receiver apparatus through the dragging and droppingoperations, a copying confirmation dialog is displayed so that the usercan confirm the copying process as illustrated in FIG. 17.

FIG. 17 shows an exemplary copying confirmation dialog 410 according tothe first embodiment.

Referring to FIG. 17, the copying confirmation dialog 410 includes amessage display area 411 to display a message to the user, a cancelbutton 412 to cancel the copying process, and an OK button 413 to startthe copying process.

For example, if the user selects a plurality of documents A, B, C and Din the copying manipulation screen 400 shown in FIG. 16, a message suchas “May the documents A, B, C and D be copied to the image formingapparatus 1200?” is displayed in the message display area 411 so thatthe user can confirm the selected documents and apparatus.

Then, when the user chooses the OK button 413 in the copyingconfirmation dialog 410, a plural document copying mode setting dialogto set a copying mode of the plurality of documents as illustrated inFIG. 18. On the other hand, for example, if the user selects only thedocument A in the copying manipulation screen 400 shown in FIG. 16, theuser can start execution of the copying process by choosing the OKbutton 413 in the copying confirmation dialog 410 shown in FIG. 17.

FIG. 18 shows an exemplary plural document copying mode setting dialog440 according to the first embodiment.

Referring to FIG. 18, the plural document copying mode setting dialog440 includes a copying mode selection area 441 to select a copying mode,a copying order setting button 442 to set a copying order of thedocuments, a cancel button 443 to cancel the copying process, and an OKbutton 444 to start the copying process.

In the copying mode selection area 441, a message such as “Copy theselected documents as ◯ separate documents ◯ a single document.” isdisplayed. When the user chooses one of the two options, the selectedoption is displayed as ⊚. In the illustrative example, the user selects“a single document”. In addition, when the user selects the copyingorder setting button 442 to designate a copying order of the documents,a plural document copying order setting dialog is displayed asillustrated in FIG. 19.

FIG. 19 shows an exemplary plural document copying order setting dialog450 according to the first embodiment.

Referring to FIG. 19, the plural document copying order setting dialog450 includes a selected document list display area 451 to display a listof documents selected by the user, an UP button 452 to ascend thecopying order of a document, a DOWN button 453 to descend the copyingorder of a document, a cancel button 454 to cancel the copying process,and an OK button 455 to start the copying process.

In the plural document copying order setting dialog 450, if the userwants to ascend the copying order of the document B, the user firstselects the document B in the selected document list display area 451and then chooses the UP button. As a result, the document B can becopied before the document A. In contrast, if the user chooses the DOWNbutton 453, the document B can be copied after the document C or thedocument D. After setting the copying order, if the user chooses the OKbutton 455, the copying process is started, and the documents A throughD are copied from the image forming apparatus 1000 to the image formingapparatus 1200 in the designated copying order.

In the first and second embodiments of the present invention, when theimage forming apparatus 1200 having the document process control part300 requests a selected document stored in the image forming apparatus1000 in the format of a document type that is determined based ondocument types processable to the image forming apparatuses 1000 and1200, the corresponding image processing process can be performed in theimage forming apparatus 1200 in cooperation with the apparatusesconnected to each other via the network. For example, if the size of adocument that the image forming apparatus 1000, which serves as thedocument transmitter apparatus, accommodates is greater than the maximalsize of documents that the image forming apparatus 1200, which serves asthe document receiver apparatus, can store, the document process controlpart 300 of the image forming apparatus 1200 can use an image scalingfunction thereof to provide a reduced-size page image based ondetermination of the document type determination part 320.

Also, since the document process control part 300 flexibly controlscooperation with the image forming apparatuses 1000 and 1200 dependingon types of processes such as a copying process and a printing process,it is possible to perform various types of processes through cooperationwith apparatuses connected via a network.

In the first and second embodiments, the copying process and theprinting process that are performed through cooperation with apparatusesconnected via a network are described. However, the present invention isnot limited to these processes. The present invention is applicable tofile management, scanner control and so on. Furthermore, the presentinvention is applicable to process information regarding the imageforming apparatuses 1000 and 1200.

Also, the image forming apparatuses 1000 and 1200 and the terminal 30according to the embodiments are not limited to communication via afixed line LAN (Local Area Network). In other words, although physicallayers differs in a network system, such as a wireless LAN andBluetooth, SOAP messages can be exchanged in such a network system inaccordance with TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/InternetProtocol). Thus, it is possible to implement various processes accordingto the embodiments as Web services in accordance with http and SOAP.Furthermore, communicated contents are allowed to be extended in aparallel system, such as a centronics and SCSI. Thus, as long as thereis agreement between devices that will communicate each other, it ispossible to implement message exchange in accordance with SOAP.

A description is given, with reference to FIG. 20 through FIG. 26, of adocument printing process according to a second embodiment of thepresent invention.

In the above-mentioned first embodiment, a document is copied inaccordance with the three patterns shown in FIG. 3 from the imageforming apparatus 1000 to the image forming apparatus 1200 incooperation with apparatuses connected to each other. In the secondembodiment of the present invention, the image forming apparatus 1200prints out a copy of a document stored in the image forming apparatus1000 in accordance with the same three pattern shown in FIG. 3.

In the second embodiment, the image forming apparatuses 1000 and 1200have the functional structures shown in FIG. 1 and the hardwareconfigurations shown in FIG. 2. Also, the image forming apparatus 1000having no document process control part 300 has the functional structureshown in FIG. 5. In addition, the terminal 30 having no document processcontrol part 300 has the functional structure shown in FIG. 6. For thisreason, the description of the functional structures thereof is omitted.

FIG. 20 shows an exemplary functional structure of a network systemaccording to the second embodiment. In the illustrated network system,the image forming apparatus 1200, an image forming apparatus 1000 havingthe fundamentally same functions as the image forming apparatus 1200,and a terminal 30 are connected to each other via a network 15. Theimage forming apparatus 1000 does not have to include the documentprocess control part 300 in the document management Web serviceapplication 1216 shown in FIG. 1.

Referring to FIG. 20, an image of document data or image data(hereinafter which are collectively referred to as a document) stored inHDD 1303B of the image forming apparatus 1000 is formed on a paper 4 inthe image forming apparatus 1200, and the image forming apparatus 1200prints out the image in accordance with illustrated three patterns. Inthe second embodiment, the image forming apparatus 1000, which serves asa document transmitter apparatus, sends a document stored therein to theimage forming apparatus 1200. On the other hand, the image formingapparatus 1200, which serves as a document receiver apparatus, receivesthe document from the image forming apparatus 1000, and the imageforming apparatus 1200 produces a copy of the document.

In the first pattern, a document stored in the image forming apparatus1000 is printed out in the image forming apparatus 1200 through user'smanipulation on an operation panel 1310 of the image forming apparatus1200. In the second pattern, a document stored in the image formingapparatus 1000 is printed out in the image forming apparatus 1200through user's manipulation on an operation panel 1310B of the imageforming apparatus 1000. In the third pattern, a document stored in theimage forming apparatus 1000 is printed out in the image formingapparatus 1200 through user's manipulation on a display part 13 of theterminal 30.

A description is given, with reference to FIG. 21, of a functionalstructure of the image forming apparatuses 1200 having the documentprocess control part 300.

FIG. 21 shows an exemplary functional structure of the image formingapparatus 1200 having the document process control part 300 according tothe second embodiment wherein only primary functional components of theimage forming apparatus 1200 are illustrated and the other functionalcomponents are omitted. In FIG. 21, the same functional components asthose shown in FIG. 4 are designated by the same reference numerals, andthe description thereof is omitted.

Referring to FIG. 21, the document management Web service application1216 of the image forming apparatus 1200 differs from the documentmanagement Web service application 1216 according to the firstembodiment in that the document management Web service application 1216according to the second embodiment further comprises a printing Webservice execution part 140, which serves as a Web service function (WSF)to provide a Web service, to print a selected document by controllingthe plotter 1201.

The document process control part 300 comprises a sequence control part310 and a document type determination part 320. The sequence controlpart 310 controls a sequence of processes to print a document stored inthe image forming apparatus 1000 in the image forming apparatus 1200 incooperation with the image forming apparatus 1000. The document typedetermination part 320 determines what document type is processable tothe image forming apparatus 1000 or 1200.

The sequence control part 310, in response to receipt of a SOAP commandassociated with cooperation with other apparatuses connected to theimage forming apparatus 1200 from the SOAP command analysis part 110 ofthe server part 100, requests the SOAP command creation part 210 of theclient part 200 to acquire a list of document types acquirable from theimage forming apparatus 1000. In response to receipt of the acquirabledocument type list from the SOAP response interpretation part 220, thesequence control part 310 requests the document type determination part320 to determine a document type processable to the image formingapparatuses 1000 and 1200. Then, the sequence control part 310 instructsthe SOAP command creation part 210 to request the image formingapparatus 1000 to send a page image in the format of the determineddocument type. In response to receipt of the page image from the imageforming apparatus 1000 corresponding to the page image request commandvia the SOAP response interpretation part 220, the sequence control part310 instructs the SOAP command creation part 210 to internally issue aSOAP command to print the page image to the SOAP command analysis part110 of the server part 100. In response to receipt of the processrequest from the SOAP command analysis part 110, the printing Webservice execution part 140 prints out the page image.

In order to determine the best document type, the document typedetermination part 320 determines whether there is a processabledocument type shared in a transmitter document type list 302 and areceiver document type list 304 sent from the sequence control part 310.Here, the transmitter document type list 302 includes document typesacquirable from the image forming apparatus 1000. On the other hand, thereceiver document type list 304 includes document types printable in theimage forming apparatus 1200. The document type determination part 320informs the sequence control part 310 of the determined document type.

A description is given, with reference to FIG. 22, of a first documentprinting process for the above-mentioned first pattern in FIG. 20according to the second embodiment.

In the first pattern, a selected document stored in the image formingapparatus 1000 is printed out in the image forming apparatus 1200through user's manipulation on the operation panel 1310 of the imageforming apparatus 1200.

FIG. 22 shows an exemplary operation of the first document printingprocess for the first pattern according to the second embodiment.

Referring to FIG. 22, a user of the image forming apparatus 1200 selectsthe image forming apparatus 1000 accommodating a desired document fromlisted apparatuses, which is displayed on the operation panel 1310,connected to the image forming apparatus 1200 via the network 15 at stepS210.

At step S211, the image forming apparatus 1200 sends to the imageforming apparatus 1000 a document list request command to request a listof documents stored in the image forming apparatus 1000.

At step S211-2, the image forming apparatus 1000, in response to receiptof the document list request command from the image forming apparatus1200, uses the document management Web service execution part 130B toacquire the document list from HDD 1303B and sends the document list tothe image forming apparatus 1200.

At step S212, the image forming apparatus 1200, in response to receiptof the document list from the image forming apparatus 1000, sends to theimage forming apparatus 1000 a thumbnail request command to requestthumbnail data to be displayed on the operation panel 1310.

At step S212-2, when the image forming apparatus 1000 receives thethumbnail request command from the image forming apparatus 1200, thedocument management Web service execution part 130B operatescorresponding to the thumbnail request command Then, the image formingapparatus 1000 sends to the image forming apparatus 1200 the thumbnaildata acquired by the document management Web service execution part130B. For example, the thumbnail data are reduced-size image data of thetop pages of documents stored in the image forming apparatus 1000.

At step S213, when the document list of the image forming apparatus 1000is displayed in thumbnail representation on the operation panel 1310 ofthe image forming apparatus 1200, the user determines which apparatusshould print out which document by dragging and dropping a thumbnail ofa desired document to a desired apparatus. In this embodiment, the userdrags and drops a document in the image forming apparatus 1000 to theimage forming apparatus 1200.

At step S214, the image forming apparatus 1200 sends to the imageforming apparatus 1000 a bibliographic information request command torequest bibliographic information regarding the selected document.

At step S214-2, the image forming apparatus 1000, in response to receiptof the bibliographic information request command from the image formingapparatus 1200, uses the document management Web service execution part130B to acquire the bibliographic information from HDD 1303B and sendsthe bibliographic information to the image forming apparatus 1200.

At step S215, the image forming apparatus 1200, in response to receiptof the bibliographic information from the image forming apparatus 1000,internally acquires system information regarding the image formingapparatus 1200, and examines feasibility of the copying process using aticket based on the system information.

At step S216, the image forming apparatus 1200 internally issues aprintable document type list request command to request a list ofdocument types printable in the image forming apparatus 1200.

At step S217, the image forming apparatus 1200 displays a copying orprinting confirmation dialog on the operation panel 1310.

When the user chooses OK to start the printing process at step S218, thesequence control part 310 of the image forming apparatus 1200 starts theprinting process in cooperation with the image forming apparatus 1000.

At step S219, the image forming apparatus 1200 send to the image formingapparatus 1000 an acquirable document type list request command torequest a list of document types acquirable from the image formingapparatus 1000.

At step S219-2, the image forming apparatus 1000, in response to receiptthe acquirable document type list request command from the image formingapparatus 1200, sends the acquirable document type list to the imageforming apparatus 1200.

At step S220, the image forming apparatus 1200, in response to receiptof the acquirable document type list from the image forming apparatus1000, maintains the acquirable document type list as a transmitterdocument type list 302. Furthermore, the sequence control part 310 ofthe image forming apparatus 1200 internally issues a writable documenttype list request command to request a list of document types writablein the image forming apparatus 1200, and sets the writable document typelist as a receiver document type list 304.

At step S221, the sequence control 310 of the image forming apparatus1200 uses the document type determination part 320 to determine whetheror not there is a document type acquirable from the image formingapparatus 1000 and writable in the image forming apparatus 1200 based onthe transmitter document type list 302 and the receiver document typelist 304, and then determines the best document type. Based on thedetermination, if there are a plurality of such document types, thedocument type determination part 320 determines one of the documenttypes as the best document type. If there is no such a document type,the document type determination part 320 determines a predetermineddocument type as the best document type. Then, the sequence control part310 instructs the SOAP command creation part 210 to send to the imageforming apparatus 1200 a ticket request command as a SOAP command.

At step S222, the image forming apparatus 1200 sends to the imageforming apparatus 1000 such a ticket request command to request a ticketto use the selected document.

At step S222-2, the image forming apparatus 1000, in response to receiptof the ticket request command from the image forming apparatus 1200,sends the ticket to the image forming apparatus 1200 so that the imageforming apparatus 1200 can perform the printing process for the imageforming apparatus 1000 through the ticket management Web serviceapplication 1217.

At step S223, the image forming apparatus 1200, in response to receiptof the ticket from the image forming apparatus 1000, internally issues adocument printing request to print out the selected document stored inthe image forming apparatus 1000 by authority of the ticket. Namely, theimage forming apparatus 1200 creates a document printing request commandas a SOAP command issued to the image forming apparatus 1200 itself.

At step S224, the image forming apparatus 1200, in response to receiptof the internally issued document printing request command, sends to theimage forming apparatus 1000 a printing attribute information requestcommand to request printing attribute information to indicate whetherthe selected document should be double-sided printed or single-sidedprinted.

At step S224-2, the image forming apparatus 1000, in response to receiptof the printing attribute information request command from the imageforming apparatus 1200, sends the printing attribute information to theimage forming apparatus 1200.

At step S225, the image forming apparatus 1200, in response to receiptof the printing attribute information from the image forming apparatus1000, internally issues a job creation request command to create a job.

At step S226, the image forming apparatus 1200 sets a printing attributebased on the printing attribute information.

At step S227, the image forming apparatus 1200 sends to the imageforming apparatus 1000 a page image request command to request a pageimage in the format of the determined document type designated in theticket.

At step S227-2, the image forming apparatus 1000, in response to receiptof the page image request command from the image forming apparatus 1200,sends to the image forming apparatus 1200 a page image of the selecteddocument in the format of the document type. In the page image requestcommand, for example, a plurality of page images of the selecteddocument may be designated. Alternatively, whenever the image formingapparatus 1200 receives each page image from the image forming apparatus1000, the image forming apparatus 1200 may iteratively send to the imageforming apparatus 1000 a page image request command for the next pageimage.

At step S228, after the image forming apparatus 1200 receives all pageimages of the selected document from the image forming apparatus 1000,the printing Web service execution part 140 uses the plotter 1201 toprint out the page images.

At step S229, the image forming apparatus 1200 displays on the operationpanel 1310 a printing completion dialog to indicate that the printingprocess has been terminated.

In the image forming apparatus 1200, which serves as the documentreceiver apparatus, the SOAP command creation part 210 of the clientpart 200 sets request commands sent to the image forming apparatus 1000as SOAP commands incorporated in messages of HTTP requests (S211, S212,S214, S218, S221 and S223). The SOAP response interpretation part 220 ofthe client part 200 extracts HTTP responses for process resultscorresponding to the HTTP requests.

On the other hand, in the image forming apparatus 1000, which serves asthe document transmitter apparatus, the SOAP command analysis part 110Bof the server part 100B analyzes received request commands as SOAPcommands, and the document management Web service execution part 130Bexecutes processes corresponding to the HTTP requests. The SOAP responsecreation part 120B of the server part 100B provides the image formingapparatus 1200 with process results of the document management Webservice execution part 130B as Web services (S211-2, S212-2, S214-2,S219-2, S224-2 and S227-2).

According to the above-mentioned first document printing process, when auser of the image forming apparatus 1200 having the document processcontrol part 300 selects a document stored in the image formingapparatus 1000, the image forming apparatus 1200 can acquire thedocument in an appropriate document type from the image formingapparatus 1000 and print out the document by means of the plotter 1201.

A description is given, with reference to FIG. 23, of a second documentprinting process for the above-mentioned second pattern in FIG. 20according to the second embodiment. In the second pattern, a selecteddocument stored in the image forming apparatus 1000 is printed out inthe image forming apparatus 1200 through user's manipulation on theoperation panel 1310B of the image forming apparatus 1000.

FIG. 23 shows an exemplary operation of the second document printingprocess for the second pattern according to the second embodiment.

Referring to FIG. 23, a user of the image forming apparatus 1000 selectsthe image forming apparatus 1000 accommodating a desired document fromlisted apparatuses, which is displayed on the operation panel 1310B,connected to the image forming apparatus 1000 via the network 15 at stepS230.

At step S231, the image forming apparatus 1000 internally issues adocument list request command to request a list of documents stored inthe image forming apparatus 1000, and uses the document management Webservice execution part 130B to acquire the document list from HDD 1303B.

At step S232, the image forming apparatus 1000, in response toacquisition of the document list, internally issues a thumbnail requestcommand to request thumbnail data to be displayed on the operation panel1310B, and uses the document management Web service execution part 130Bto acquire the thumbnail data. Based on the thumbnail data, the imageforming apparatus 1000 displays on the operation panel 1310B thedocument list in thumbnail representation. For example, the thumbnaildata are reduced-size image data of the top pages of documents stored inthe image forming apparatus 1000.

At step S233, when the document list of the image forming apparatus 1000is displayed in thumbnail representation on the operation panel 1310B ofthe image forming apparatus 1000, the user determines which apparatusshould print out which document by dragging and dropping a thumbnail ofa desired document to a desired apparatus. In this embodiment, the userdrags and drops a document stored in the image forming apparatus 1000toward the image forming apparatus 1200.

At step S234, the image forming apparatus 1000 internally issues abibliographic information request command to request bibliographicinformation regarding the selected document, and uses the documentmanagement Web service execution part 130B to acquire the bibliographicinformation from HDD 1303B.

At step S235, the image forming apparatus 1000 sends to the imageforming apparatus 1200 a system information request command to requestsystem information regarding the image forming apparatus 1200.

At step 235-2, the image forming apparatus 1200, in response to receiptof the system information request command from the image formingapparatus 1000, sends to the image forming apparatus 1000 the systeminformation including ticket information to indicate feasibility of theprinting process using a ticket.

At step S236, the image forming apparatus 1000, in response to receiptof the system information from the image forming apparatus 1200, sendsto the image forming apparatus 1200 a printable document type listrequest command to request a list of document types printable in theimage forming apparatus 1200.

At step S236-2, the image forming apparatus 1200, in response to receiptof the printable document type list request command from the imageforming apparatus 1000, sends the printable document type list to theimage forming apparatus 1000.

At step S237, the image forming apparatus 1000, in response to receiptof the printable document type list from the image forming apparatus1200, displays a copying or printing confirmation dialog on theoperation panel 1310B. There is a possibility that the image formingapparatus 1200 may have printing devices (peripheral devices), such as apunching device and a stapling device, different from those of the imageforming apparatus 1000. Based on the printable document type list, ifthere is an attribute that the image forming apparatus 1200 does notcover, the attribute may be displayed as a grey-colored item to indicateunavailability of the attribute. On the other, if the image formingapparatus 1200 covers an attribute that the image forming apparatus 1000does not cover, the attribute may be displayed as a selectableattribute.

When the user chooses OK to start the printing process at step S238, theimage forming apparatus 1000 uses the ticket management Web application1217 to internally issue a ticket at step S239.

At step S240, the image forming apparatus 1000 send to the image formingapparatus 1200 a document printing request command to print out theselected document by authority of the internally issued ticket.

At step S241, the image forming apparatus 1200, in response to receiptof the document printing request command from the image formingapparatus 1000, uses the document process control part 300 to start theprinting process in cooperation with the image forming apparatus 1000.Then, the image forming apparatus 1200 sends to the image formingapparatus 1000 an acquirable document type list request command torequest a list of document types acquirable from the image formingapparatus 1000.

At step S241-2, the image forming apparatus 1000, in response to receiptof the acquirable document type list request command from the imageforming apparatus 1200, sends the acquirable document type list to theimage forming apparatus 1200.

At step S242, the image forming apparatus 1200, in response to receiptof the acquirable document type list from the image forming apparatus1000, maintains the acquirable document type list as a transmitterdocument type list 302. Furthermore, the sequence control part 310 ofthe image forming apparatus 1200 internally issues a writable documenttype list request command to request a list of document types writablein the image forming apparatus 1200, and sets the writable document typelist as a receiver document type list 304.

At step S243, the sequence control 310 of the image forming apparatus1200 uses the document type determination part 320 to determine whetheror not there is a document type acquirable from the image formingapparatus 1000 and writable in the image forming apparatus 1200 based onthe transmitter document type list 302 and the receiver document typelist 304, and then determines the best document type. Based on thedetermination, if there are a plurality of such document types, thedocument type determination part 320 determines one of the documenttypes as the best document type. If there is no such a document type,the document type determination part 320 determines a predetermineddocument type as the best document type.

At step S244, the image forming apparatus 1200 sends to the imageforming apparatus 1000 a printing attribute information request commandto request printing attribute information to indicate whether theselected document should be double-sided printed or single-sidedprinted.

At step S244-2, the image forming apparatus 1000, in response to receiptof the printing attribute information request command from the imageforming apparatus 1200, sends the printing attribute information to theimage forming apparatus 1200.

At step S245, the image forming apparatus 1200, in response to receiptof the printing attribute information from the image forming apparatus1000, internally issues a job creation request command to create a job.

At step S246, the image forming apparatus 1200 sets a printing attributebased on the printing attribute information.

At step S247, the image forming apparatus 1200 send to the image formingapparatus 1000 a page image request command using the ticket, in whichthe determined document type is specified, as a SOAP command.

At step S247-2, the image forming apparatus 1000, in response to receiptof the page image request command from the image forming apparatus 1200,sends to the image forming apparatus 1200 a page image of the selecteddocument in the format of the document type specified in the ticket. Inthe page image request command, for example, a plurality of page imagesof the selected document may be designated. Alternatively, whenever theimage forming apparatus 1200 receives each page image from the imageforming apparatus 1000, the image forming apparatus 1200 may iterativelysend to the image forming apparatus 1000 a page image request commandfor the next page image.

At step S248, after the image forming apparatus 1200 receives all pageimages of the selected document from the image forming apparatus 1000,the printing Web service execution part 140 uses the plotter 1201 toprint out the page images.

At step S248-2, after completion of the printing process, the imageforming apparatus 1200 sends to the image forming apparatus 1000 aprinting completion message to indicate that the printing process hasbeen terminated.

At step S249, the image forming apparatus 1000, in response to receiptof the printing completion message from the image forming apparatus1200, displays on the operation panel 1310B a printing completion dialogto indicate that the printing process has been terminated.

In the image forming apparatus 1200, which serves as the documentreceiver apparatus, the SOAP command creation part 210 of the clientpart 200 sets request commands sent to the image forming apparatus 1000as SOAP commands incorporated in messages of HTTP requests (5241, S244and S247). The SOAP response interpretation part 220 of the client part200 extracts HTTP responses for process results corresponding to theHTTP requests. Also, the SOAP command analysis part 110 of the serverpart 100 analyzes request command received from the image formingapparatus 1000 as SOAP commands, and determines whether the SOAPcommands are document printing request commands using a ticket.

On the other hand, in the image forming apparatus 1000, which serves asthe document transmitter apparatus, the SOAP command creation part 210Bof the client part 200B sets request commands sent to the image formingapparatus 1200 as SOAP commands incorporated in messages of HTTPrequests (S235, S236 and S240), and the SOAP response interpretationpart 220B of the client part 200B extracts HTTP responses for processresults corresponding to the HTTP requests. Also, the SOAP commandanalysis part 110B of the server part 100B analyzes request commandsreceived from the image forming apparatus 1200 as SOAP commands.

According to the above-mentioned second document printing process, whena user of the image forming apparatus 1000 having no document processcontrol part 300 selects a document stored in the image formingapparatus 1000, the image forming apparatus 1200 can acquire thedocument in an appropriate document type from the image formingapparatus 1000 and print out the document by means of the plotter 1201.

A description is given, with reference to FIG. 24, of a third documentprinting process for the above-mentioned third pattern in FIG. 20according to the second embodiment.

In the third pattern, a selected document stored in the image formingapparatus 1000 is copied to the image forming apparatus 1200 throughuser's manipulation on the display part 13 of the terminal 30.

FIG. 24 shows an exemplary operation of the third document copyingprocess for the third pattern according to the second embodiment.

Referring to FIG. 24, a user of the terminal 30 selects the imageforming apparatus 1000 accommodating a desired document from listedapparatuses, which are displayed on the display part 13, connected tothe terminal 30 via the network 15 at step S250.

At step S251, the terminal 30 sends to the image forming apparatus 1000a document list request command to request a list of documents stored inthe image forming apparatus 1000.

At step S251-2, the image forming apparatus 1000, in response to receiptof the document list request command from the terminal 30, uses thedocument management Web service execution part 130B to acquire thedocument list from HDD 1303B and sends the document list to the terminal30.

At step S252, the terminal 30, in response to receipt of the documentlist from the image forming apparatus 1000, sends to the image formingapparatus 1000 a thumbnail request command to request thumbnail data tobe displayed on the display panel 13.

At step S252-2, when the image forming apparatus 1000 receives thethumbnail request command from the terminal 30, the document managementWeb service execution part 130B operates corresponding to the thumbnailrequest command. Then, the image forming apparatus 1000 uses thedocument management Web service execution part 130B to acquire thethumbnail data from HDD 1303B and sends the thumbnail data to theterminal 30. For example, the thumbnail data are reduced-size image dataof the top pages of documents stored in the image forming apparatus1000.

At step S253, when the document list of the image forming apparatus 1000is displayed in thumbnail representation on the display part 13 of theterminal 30, the user determines which apparatus should print out whichdocument by dragging and dropping a thumbnail of a desired documenttoward a desired apparatus. In this embodiment, the user drags and dropsa document stored in the image forming apparatus 1000 toward the imageforming apparatus 1200.

At step S254, the terminal 30 sends to the image forming apparatus 1000a bibliographic information request command to request bibliographicinformation regarding the selected document.

At step S254-2, the image forming apparatus 1000, in response to receiptof the bibliographic information request command from the terminal 30,uses the document management Web service execution part 130B to acquirethe bibliographic information from HDD 13033 and sends the bibliographicinformation to the terminal 30.

At step S255, the terminal 30, in response to receipt of thebibliographic information from the image forming apparatus 1000, sendsto the image forming apparatus 1200 a system information request commandto request system information regarding the image forming apparatus1200.

At step S255-2, the terminal 30, in response to receipt of the systeminformation from the image forming apparatus 1200, examines feasibilityof the copying process using a ticket.

At step S256, the terminal 30 sends to the image forming apparatus 1200a printable document type list request command to request a list ofdocument types printable in the image forming apparatus 1200.

At step S256-2, the image forming apparatus 1200, in response to receiptof the printable document type list request command from the terminal30, sends the printable document type list to the terminal 30.

At step S257, the terminal 30 displays a copying or printingconfirmation dialog on the display part 13.

When the user chooses OK to start the printing process at step S258, theterminal 30 sends to the image forming apparatus 1000 a ticket requestcommand to request a ticket to use the selected document stored in theimage forming apparatus at step S259.

At step S259-2, the image forming apparatus 1000, in response to receiptof the ticket request command from the terminal 30, sends the ticket tothe terminal 30.

At step S260, the terminal 30, in response to receipt the ticket fromthe image forming apparatus 1000, sends to the image forming apparatus1200 a document printing request command to acquire the selecteddocument from the image forming apparatus 1000 by authority of theticket and print out the document.

At step S261, when the image forming apparatus 1200 receives thedocument printing request command from the terminal 30, the sequencecontrol part 310 of the image forming apparatus 1200 starts the printingprocess in cooperation with the image forming apparatus 1000. Then, theimage forming apparatus 1200 uses the sequence control part 310 to sendto the image forming apparatus 1000 an acquirable document type listrequest command to request a list of document types acquirable from theimage forming apparatus 1000.

At step S211-2, the image forming apparatus 1000, in response to receiptthe acquirable document type list request command from the image formingapparatus 1200, sends the acquirable document type list to the imageforming apparatus 1200.

At step S262, the image forming apparatus 1200, in response to receiptof the acquirable document type list from the image forming apparatus1000, maintains the acquirable document type list as a transmitterdocument type list 302. Furthermore, the sequence control part 310 ofthe image forming apparatus 1200 internally issues a writable documenttype list request command to request a list of document types writablein the image forming apparatus 1200, and sets the writable document typelist as a receiver document type list 304.

At step S263, the sequence control 310 of the image forming apparatus1200 uses the document type determination part 320 to determine whetheror not there is a document type acquirable from the image formingapparatus 1000 and writable in the image forming apparatus 1200 based onthe transmitter document type list 302 and the receiver document typelist 304, and then determines the best document type. Based on thedetermination, if there are a plurality of such document types, thedocument type determination part 320 determines one of the documenttypes as the best document type. If there is no such a document type,the document type determination part 320 determines a predetermineddocument type as the best document type.

At step S264, the image forming apparatus 1200 sends to the imageforming apparatus 1000 a printing attribute information request commandto request printing attribute information to indicate whether theselected document should be double-sided printed or single-sidedprinted.

At step S264-2, the image forming apparatus 1000, in response to receiptof the printing attribute information request command from the imageforming apparatus 1200, sends the printing attribute information to theimage forming apparatus 1200.

At step S265, the image forming apparatus 1200, in response to receiptof the printing attribute information from the image forming apparatus1000, internally issues a job creation request command to create a job.

At step S266, the image forming apparatus 1200 sets a printing attributebased on the printing attribute information.

At step S267, the image forming apparatus 1200 sends to the imageforming apparatus 1000 the page image request command to request a pageimage of the selected document in the format of the document typedesignated in the ticket.

At step S267-2, the image forming apparatus 1000, in response to thepage image request command from the image forming apparatus 1200, sendsto the image forming apparatus 1200 a page image of the selecteddocument in the format of the designated document type. In the pageimage request command, for example, a plurality of page images of theselected document may be designated. Alternatively, whenever the imageforming apparatus 1200 receives each page image from the image formingapparatus 1000, the image forming apparatus 1200 may iteratively send tothe image forming apparatus 1000 a page image request command for thenext page image.

At step S268, when the image forming apparatus 1200 receives all pageimages of the selected document from the image forming apparatus 1000,the printing Web service execution part 140 uses the plotter 1201 toprint out the page images.

At step S268-2, after completion of the printing process, the imageforming apparatus 1200 sends to the terminal 30 a printing completionmessage to indicate that the printing process has been terminated.

At step S269, the terminal 30, in response to receipt of the printingcompletion message from the image forming apparatus 1200, displays ondisplay part 13 a printing completion dialog to indicate that theprinting process has been terminated.

In the terminal 30, which serves as an operator apparatus, the SOAPcommand creation part 210C of the client part 200C sets request commandssent to the image forming apparatuses 1000 and 1200 as SOAP commandsincorporated in messages of HTTP requests (S251, S252, S254, S255, S256,S259 and S260). The SOAP response interpretation part 220C of the clientpart 200C extracts HTTP responses for process results corresponding tothe HTTP requests.

In the image forming apparatus 1000, which serves as the documenttransmitter apparatus, the SOAP command analysis part 110B of the serverpart 100B analyzes request commands received from the terminal 30 andthe image forming apparatus 1200 as SOAP commands, and the documentmanagement Web service execution part 130B executes processescorresponding to the HTTP requests. The SOAP response creation part 120Bof the server part 100B provides the image forming apparatus 1200 andthe terminal 30 with process results of the document management Webservice execution part 130B as Web services (S251-2, S252-2, S254-2,S259-2, S261-2, S264-2 and S267-2).

On the other hand, in the image forming apparatus 1200, which serves asthe document receiver apparatus, the SOAP command creation part 210 ofthe client part 200 sets request commands sent to the image formingapparatus 1000 as SOAP commands incorporated in messages of HTTPrequests (S261, S264 and S267). The SOAP response interpretation part220 of the client part 200 extracts HTTP responses for process resultscorresponding to the HTTP requests. Also, the SOAP command analysis part110 of the server part 100 analyzes received request command as SOAPcommands, and the SOAP response creation part 120 of the server part 100provides the terminal 30 with process results corresponding to the SOAPcommands as Web services (S255-2, S256-2 and S268-2).

According to the above-mentioned third document printing process, when auser of the terminal 30 selects a document stored in the image formingapparatus 1000, the image forming apparatus 1200 having the documentprocess control part 300 can acquire the document in an appropriatedocument type from the image forming apparatus 1000 and print out thedocument by means of the plotter 1201.

A description is given, with reference to FIG. 25 and FIG. 26, ofexemplary screens displayed on the operation panels 1310 and 1310B andthe display part 13 according to the second embodiment.

FIG. 25 shows an exemplary copying or printing confirmation dialog 420according to the second embodiment wherein the same components as thoseshown in FIG. 16 are designated by the same reference numerals and thedescription thereof is omitted.

Referring to FIG. 25, the copying or printing confirmation dialog 420includes a selection area 421 to select a copying process or a printingprocess, a detail setting button 422 to set details of the selectedprocess, a cancel button 423 to cancel the copying process or theprinting process, and an OK button 424 to start the copying process orthe printing process. If a user selects a document A in the copyingmanipulation screen 400 shown in FIG. 16, for example, a message such as“In the image forming apparatus 1200, ◯ copy or ◯ print out the documentA.” is displayed in the selection area 421, and the user is prompted toselect the copying process or the printing process on the document A.When the user selects the printing process, the printing process isdisplayed as “⊚” as illustrated in FIG. 25.

If the user selects the printing process in the copying or printingconfirmation dialog 420 and further chooses the detail setting button422, the terminal 30 displays a printing process detail setting dialogto set details of the printing process as illustrated in FIG. 26.

FIG. 26 shows an exemplary printing process detail setting dialogaccording to the second embodiment wherein the same components as thoseshown in FIG. 16 are designated by the same reference numerals and thedescription thereof is omitted.

Referring to FIG. 26, the printing process detail setting dialog 430includes a copy number setting area 431 to set the number of copies of aselected document, a printing order setting area 432 to set the printingorder of the selected document, a finishing treatment setting area 433to set a type of finishing treatments, a cancel button 435 to cancel theprinting process, and an OK button 435 to start the printing process. Inthe copy number setting area 431, the user sets the number of copies ofa selected document. If the user sets the copy number of the selecteddocument as two or more, the user is allowed to select one of sortprinting and stack printing in the printing order setting area 432. Forexample, if the user selects the sort printing, the sort printing isdisplayed as “⊚” as illustrated in FIG. 26. In addition, the user canselect one of “staple” or “punch” as the finishing treatment in thefinishing treatment setting area 433. For example, if the user selects“staple”, the item “staple” is displayed as “⊚” as illustrated in FIG.26. After the setting, when the user selects the OK button 435, theprinting process is executed.

In the first and second embodiment of the present invention, when theimage forming apparatus 1200 having the document process control part300 requests a selected document stored in the image forming apparatus1000 in the format of a document type that is determined based ondocument types processable to the image forming apparatuses 1000 and1200, the corresponding image processing process can be performed in theimage forming apparatus 1200 in cooperation with the apparatusesconnected to each other via the network. For example, if the size of adocument that the image forming apparatus 1000, which serves as thedocument transmitter apparatus, accommodates is greater than the maximalsize of documents that the image forming apparatus 1200, which serves asthe document receiver apparatus, can store, the document process controlpart 300 can use an image scaling function thereof to send areduced-size page image to the image forming apparatus 1200 based ondetermination of the document type determination part 320.

Also, since the document process control part 300 flexibly controlscooperation with the image forming apparatuses 1000 and 1200 dependingon types of processes such as a copying process and a printing process,it is possible to perform various types of processes through cooperationwith apparatuses connected via a network.

In the first and second embodiments, the copying process and theprinting process that are performed through cooperation with apparatusesconnected via a network are described. However, the present invention isnot limited to these processes The present invention is applicable tofile management, scanner control and so on. Furthermore, the presentinvention is applicable to process information regarding the imageforming apparatuses 1000 and 1200.

Also, the image forming apparatuses 1000 and 1200 and the terminal 30according to the embodiments are not limited to communication via afixed line LAN (Local Area Network). In other words, although physicallayers differs in a network system, such as a wireless LAN andBluetooth, SOAP messages can be exchanged in such a network system inaccordance with TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/InternetProtocol). Thus, it is possible to implement various processes accordingto the embodiments as Web services in accordance with http and SOAP.Furthermore, communicated contents are allowed to be extended in aparallel system, such as a centronics and SCSI. Thus, as long as thereis agreement between devices that will communicate each other, it ispossible to implement message exchange in accordance with SOAP.

A description is given, with reference to the FIG. 27 through FIG. 40,of a copying process according to a third embodiment of the presentinvention.

In the third embodiment, the image forming apparatus 1200 having thedocument process control part 300 serves as a document transmitterapparatus, and the image forming apparatus 1000 having no documentprocess control part 300 serves as a document receiver apparatus, asillustrated in FIG. 27. Namely, a selected document stored in the imageforming apparatus 1200 is copied to the image forming apparatus 1000through user's manipulation.

In the third embodiment, the image forming apparatus 1200 has the samefunctional structure and hardware configuration as that according to thefirst embodiment. In other words, the image forming apparatus has thefunctional structure shown in FIG. 1 and the hardware configurationshown in FIG. 2. In particular, the image forming apparatus 1200 havingthe document process control part 300 has the functional structure shownin FIG. 4. In addition, the image forming apparatus 1000 has the samefunctional structure and hardware configuration as that according to thefirst embodiment. In other words, the image forming apparatuses 1200 hasthe functional components shown in FIG. 1 and the hardware configurationshown in FIG. 2. In particular, the image forming apparatus 1000 havingno document process control part 300 has the functional components shownin FIG. 5. Furthermore, the terminal 30 has the same functionalstructure as that according to the first embodiment. In other words, theterminal 30 has the functional components shown in FIG. 6. For thisreason, the description thereof is omitted.

A description is given, with reference to FIG. 27, of how the imageforming apparatus 1200 according to the third embodiment provides a Webservice to other apparatuses connected via a network.

FIG. 27 shows an exemplary structure of a network system according tothe third embodiment. In the illustrated network system, the imageforming apparatus 1200, the image forming apparatus 1000, and theterminal 30 are connected to each other via a network 15. The imageforming apparatus 1000 does not have to include the document processcontrol part 300 in the document management Web service application 1216shown in FIG. 1.

Referring to FIG. 27, document data or image data (hereinafter which arecollectively referred to as a document) stored in HDD 1303 of the imageforming apparatus 1200 are copied to the image forming apparatus 1000 inaccordance with illustrated three patterns. In the illustrativeembodiment, the image forming apparatus 1200, which serves as a documenttransmitter apparatus, sends a document stored therein to the imageforming apparatus 1000. On the other hand, the image forming apparatus1000, which serves as a document receiver apparatus, receives thedocument from the image forming apparatus 1200, and the document iscopied to the image forming apparatus 1200 by storing the document inHDD 1303B of the image forming apparatus 1000.

In the first pattern according to the third embodiment, a documentstored in the image forming apparatus 1200 is copied to the imageforming apparatus 1000 through user's manipulation on the operationpanel 1310B of the image forming apparatus 1000. In the second patternaccording to the third embodiment, a document stored in the imageforming apparatus 1200 is copied to the image forming apparatus 1000through user's manipulation on the operation panel 1310 of the imageforming apparatus 1200. In the third pattern according to the thirdembodiment, a document stored in the image forming apparatus 1200 iscopied to the image forming apparatus 1000 through user's manipulationon the display part 13 of the terminal 30.

A description is given, with reference to FIG. 28, of a first documentcopying process for the first pattern shown in FIG. 27 according to thethird embodiment.

In the first pattern, a selected document stored in the image formingapparatus 1200 is copied to the image forming apparatus 1000 throughuser's manipulation on the operation panel 1310 of the image formingapparatus 1200.

FIG. 28 shows an exemplary operation of the first document copyingprocess for the first pattern according to the third embodiment.

Referring to FIG. 28, a user of the image forming apparatus 1000 selectsthe image forming apparatus 1200 accommodating a desired document fromlisted apparatuses, which are displayed on the operation panel 1310B,connected to the image forming apparatus 1000 via the network 15 at stepS310.

At step S311, the image forming apparatus 1000 sends to the imageforming apparatus 1200 a document list request command to request a listof documents stored in the image forming apparatus 1200.

At step S311-2, the image forming apparatus 1200, in response to receiptof the document list request command from the image forming apparatus1000, uses the document management Web service execution part 130 toacquire the document list from HDD 1303 and sends the document list tothe image forming apparatus 1000.

At step S312, the image forming apparatus 1000, in response to receiptof the document list from the image forming apparatus 1200, sends to theimage forming apparatus 1200 a thumbnail request command to requestthumbnail data to de displayed on the operation panel 1310B.

At step S312-2, when the image forming apparatus 1200 receives thethumbnail request command from the image forming apparatus 1000, thedocument management Web service execution part 130 operatescorresponding to the thumbnail request command. Then, the image formingapparatus 1200 sends to the image forming apparatus 1000 thumbnail dataacquired by the document management Web service execution part 130. Forexample, the thumbnail data are reduced-size image data of the top pagesof documents stored in the image forming apparatus 1200.

At step S313, when the document list of the image forming apparatus 1200is displayed in thumbnail representation on the operation panel 1310B ofthe image forming apparatus 1000, the user determines which documentshould be copied to which apparatus by dragging and dropping a thumbnailof a desired document to a desired apparatus. In this embodiment, theuser drags and drops a document stored in the image forming apparatus1200 toward the image forming apparatus 1000.

At step S314, the image forming apparatus 1000 sends to the imageforming apparatus 1200 a bibliographic information request command torequest bibliographic information regarding the selected document.

At step S314-2, the image forming apparatus 1200, in response to receiptof the bibliographic information request command from the image formingapparatus 1000, uses the document management Web service execution part130 to acquire the bibliographic information from HDD 1303 and sends thebibliographic information to the image forming apparatus 1000.

At step S315, the image forming apparatus 1000, in response to receiptof the bibliographic information from the image forming apparatus 1200,internally acquires system information and examines feasibility of thecopying process using a ticket.

At step S316, the image forming apparatus 1000 displays a copyingconfirmation dialog on the operation panel 1310B.

When the user chooses OK to start the copying process at step S317, theimage forming apparatus 1000 internally issues a ticket to write adocument in the image forming apparatus 1000, and acquires the ticket atstep S318.

At step S319, the image forming apparatus 1000 sends to the imageforming apparatus 1200 a document writing request command to write adocument by authority of the ticket.

At step S320, when the image forming apparatus 1200 receives thedocument writing request command from the image forming apparatus 1000,the sequence control part 310 starts to control cooperation with theimage forming apparatus 1000 to perform the copying process. The imageforming apparatus 1200 uses the sequence control part 310 to send to theimage forming apparatus 1000 an empty file creation request command tocreate an empty file.

At step S320-2, the image forming apparatus 1000, in response to receiptof the empty file creation request command from the image formingapparatus 1200, creates an empty file and sends the file ID of the emptyfile to the image forming apparatus 1200.

At step S321, the image forming apparatus 1200, in response to receiptof receipt of the file ID from the image forming apparatus 1000, usesthe sequence control part 310 to send to the image forming apparatus1000 a writable document type list request command to request a list ofdocument types writable in the image forming apparatus 1000.

At step S321-2, the image forming apparatus 1000, in response to receiptof the writable document type list from the image forming apparatus1200, sends the writable document type list to the image formingapparatus 1200.

At step S322, the image forming apparatus 1200, in response to receiptof the writable document type list from the image forming apparatus1000, maintains the writable document type list as a receiver documenttype list 304. Then, the image forming apparatus 1200 uses the sequencecontrol part 310 to internally issue an acquirable document type listrequest command to request a list of document types acquirable from theimage forming apparatus 1200, and maintains the acquirable document typelist as a transmitter document type list 302.

At step S323, the sequence control part 310 of the image formingapparatus 1200 uses the document type determination part 320 todetermine whether or not there is a document type acquirable from theimage forming apparatus 1200 and writable in the image forming apparatus1000 based on the transmitter document type list 302 and the receiverdocument type list 304, and determines the best document type. Based onthe determination, if there are a plurality of such document types, thedocument type determination part 320 determines one of the documenttypes as the best document type. If there is no such a document type,the document type determination part 320 determines a predetermineddocument type as the best document type.

At step S324, the sequence control part 310 sends to the image formingapparatus 1000 a page image writing request command to write a pageimage in the empty file of the image forming apparatus 1000corresponding to the file ID by authority of the ticket.

At step S325, the image forming apparatus 1000, in response to receiptof the page image from the image forming apparatus 1200, uses thedocument management Web service execution part 130B to store the pageimage in the empty file.

At step S325-2, after storing of all page images of the selecteddocument, the image forming apparatus 1000 sends a copying completionmessage to the image forming apparatus 1200. In the page image writingrequest command, for example, a plurality of page images of the selecteddocument may be designated. Alternatively, whenever the image formingapparatus 1000 receives each page image from the image forming apparatus1200, the image forming apparatus 1000 may iteratively store the pageimage in the identified file.

At step S325-4, the image forming apparatus 1200, in response to receiptof the copying completion message from the image forming apparatus 1000,in turn, sends to the image forming apparatus 1000 a document writingrequest completion message to indicate that the document writing requestcommand has been fulfilled.

At step S326, the image forming apparatus 1000, in response to receiptof the document writing request completion message from the imageforming apparatus 1200, displays a copying completion dialog on theoperation panel 1310B.

In the image forming apparatus 1200, which serves as the documenttransmitter apparatus, the SOAP command creation part 210 of the clientpart 200 sets request commands sent to the image forming apparatus 1000as SOAP commands incorporated in messages of HTTP requests (S320, S321and S324), and the SOAP response interpretation part 220 of the clientpart 200 extracts HTTP responses for process results corresponding tothe HTTP requests.

On the other hand, in the image forming apparatus 1000, which serves asthe document receiver apparatus, the SOAP analysis part 110B of theserver part 100B analyzes request commands received from the imageforming apparatus 1200 as SOAP commands, and the document management Webservice execution part 130B executes processes corresponding to the HTTPrequests. The SOAP response creation part 120B of the server part 100Bprovides process results of the document management Web serviceexecution part 130B as Web services to the image forming apparatus 1200(S320-2, S321-2 and S325-2).

According to the above-mentioned first document copying process for thefirst pattern shown in FIG. 27, when a user of the image formingapparatus 1000 selects a document stored in the image forming apparatus1200, the image forming apparatus 1200 having the document processcontrol part 300 can write the document in HDD 1303B of the imageforming apparatus 1000 in an appropriate document type.

A description is given, with reference to FIG. 29, of a second documentcopying process for the above-mentioned second pattern shown in FIG. 27according to the third embodiment.

In the second pattern, a selected document stored in the image formingapparatus 1200 is copied to the image forming apparatus 1000 throughuser's manipulation on the operation panel 1310 of the image formingapparatus 1200.

FIG. 29 shows an exemplary operation of the second document copyingprocess for the second pattern according to the third embodiment.

Referring to FIG. 29, a user of the image forming apparatus 1200 selectsthe image forming apparatus 1200 itself accommodating a desired documentfrom listed apparatuses, which are displayed on the operation panel1310, connected to the image forming apparatus 1200 via the network 15at step S330.

At step S331, the image forming apparatus 1200 internally generates adocument list request command to request a list of documents stored inthe image forming apparatus 1200, and uses the document management Webservice execution part 130 to acquire the document list from HDD 1303.

At step S332, the image forming apparatus 1200, in response to receiptof the document list from the document management Web service executionpart 130, internally generates a thumbnail request command to requestthumbnail data to de displayed on the operation panel 1310, acquires thethumbnail data through the document management Web service executionpart 130, and displays thumbnails of individual documents stored in theimage forming apparatus 1200 on the operation panel 1310 based on thethumbnail data.

At step S333, when the document list of the image forming apparatus 1200is displayed in thumbnail representation on the operation panel 1310 ofthe image forming apparatus 1200, the user determines which documentshould be copied to which apparatus by dragging and dropping a thumbnailof a desired document toward a desired apparatus. In this embodiment,the user drags and drops a document stored in the image formingapparatus 1200 toward the image forming apparatus 1000.

At step S334, the image forming apparatus 1200 internally generates abibliographic information request command to request bibliographicinformation regarding the selected document, and acquires thebibliographic information from HDD 1303 through the document managementWeb service execution part 130.

At step S335, the image forming apparatus 1200, in response to receiptof the bibliographic information from the document management Webservice execution part 130, sends to the image forming apparatus 1000 asystem information request command to request system informationregarding the image forming apparatus 1000.

At step S335-2, the image forming apparatus 1000, in response to receiptof the system information request command from the image formingapparatus 1200, acquires the system information including ticketinformation indicative of feasibility of the copying process using aticket, and sends the system information to the image forming apparatus1200.

At step S336, the image forming apparatus 1000 displays a copyingconfirmation dialog on the operation panel 1310.

When the user chooses OK to start the copying process at step S337, theimage forming apparatus 1200 sends to the image forming apparatus 1000 adocument writing ticket request command to request a ticket to write adocument in the image forming apparatus 1000 at step S338.

At step S338-2, the image forming apparatus 1000, in response to receiptof the document writing ticket request command from the image formingapparatus 1200, sends the ticket to the image forming apparatus 1200.

At step S339, the image forming apparatus 1200, in response to receiptof the ticket from the image forming apparatus 1000, internally issues adocument writing request command by authority of the ticket.

At step S340, the document process control part 300 of the image formingapparatus 1200 starts to control cooperation with the image formingapparatus 1000 to perform the copying process. The image formingapparatus 1200 uses the sequence control part 310 to send to the imageforming apparatus 1000 an empty file creation request command to createan empty file.

At step S340-2, the image forming apparatus 1000, in response to receiptof the empty file creation request command from the image formingapparatus 1200, creates an empty file and sends the file ID of the emptyfile to the image forming apparatus 1200.

At step S341, the image forming apparatus 1200, in response to receiptof receipt of the file ID from the image forming apparatus 1000, usesthe sequence control part 310 to send to the image forming apparatus1000 a writable document type list request command to request a list ofdocument types writable in the image forming apparatus 1000.

At step S341-2, the image forming apparatus 1000, in response to receiptof the writable document type list request command from the imageforming apparatus 1200, sends the writable document type list to theimage forming apparatus 1200.

At step S342, the image forming apparatus 1200, in response to receiptof the writable document type list from the image forming apparatus1000, maintains the writable document type list as a receiver documenttype list 304. Then, the image forming apparatus 1200 uses the sequencecontrol part 310 to internally issue an acquirable document type listrequest command to request a list of document types acquirable from theimage forming apparatus 1200, and maintains the acquirable document typelist as a transmitter document type list 302.

At step S343, the sequence control part 310 of the image formingapparatus 1200 uses the document type determination part 320 todetermine whether or not there is a document type acquirable from theimage forming apparatus 1200 and writable in the image forming apparatus1000 based on the transmitter document type list 302 and the receiverdocument type list 304, and determines the best document type. Based onthe determination, if there are a plurality of such document types, thedocument type determination part 320 determines one of the documenttypes as the best document type. If there is no such a document type,the document type determination part 320 determines a predetermineddocument type as the best document type.

At step S344, the sequence control part 310 sends to the image formingapparatus 1000 a page image writing request command to write a pageimage in the empty file identified by the file ID by authority of theticket.

At step S345, the image forming apparatus 1000, in response to receiptof the page image from the image forming apparatus 1200, uses thedocument management Web service execution part 130B to store the pageimage in the identified empty file.

At step S345-2, after storing of all page images of the selecteddocument, the image forming apparatus 1000 sends a copying completionmessage to the image forming apparatus 1200. In the page image writingrequest command, for example, a plurality of page images of the selecteddocument may be designated. Alternatively, whenever the image formingapparatus 1000 receives each page image from the image forming apparatus1200, the image forming apparatus 1000 may iteratively store the pageimage in the identified file.

At step S346, the image forming apparatus 1200, in response to receiptof the copying completion message from the image forming apparatus 1000,displays a copying completion dialog on the operation panel 1310.

In the image forming apparatus 1200, which serves as the documenttransmitter apparatus, the SOAP command creation part 210 of the clientpart 200 sets request commands sent to the image forming apparatus 1000as SOAP commands incorporated in messages of HTTP requests (S335, S338,S340, S341 and S344), and the SOAP response interpretation part 220 ofthe client part 200 extracts HTTP responses for process resultscorresponding to the HTTP requests. Also, the SOAP command analysis part110 of the server part 100 analyzes request commands received from theimage forming apparatus 1000 as SOAP commands, and determines whether ornot the SOAP commands are document writing request commands using aticket.

On the other hand, in the image forming apparatus 1000, which serves asthe document receiver apparatus, the SOAP command creation part 210B ofthe client part 200B sets request commands sent to the image formingapparatus 1200 as SOAP commands incorporated in messages of HTTPrequests, the SOAP interpretation part 2208 of the client part 200Bextracts HTTP responses indicative of process results corresponding tothe HTTP requests. Also, the SOAP command analysis part 110B of theserver part 100B analyzes request commands received from the imageforming apparatus 1200 as SOAP commands.

According to the above-mentioned second document copying sequence forthe second pattern shown in FIG. 27, when a user of the image formingapparatus 1200 selects a document stored in the image forming apparatus1200, the image forming apparatus 1200 having the document processcontrol part 300 can write the document in HDD 1303B of the imageforming apparatus 1000 in an appropriate document type.

A description is given, with reference to FIG. 30, of a third documentcopying process for the above-mentioned third pattern in FIG. 27according to the third embodiment.

In the third pattern, a selected document stored in the image formingapparatus 1200 is copied to the image forming apparatus 1000 throughuser's manipulation on the display part 13 of the terminal 30.

FIG. 30 shows an exemplary operation of the third document copyingprocess for the third pattern according to the third embodiment.

Referring to FIG. 30, a user of the terminal 30 selects the imageforming apparatus 1200 accommodating a desired document from listedapparatuses, which are displayed on the display part 13, connected tothe terminal 30 via the network 15 at step S350.

At step S351, the terminal 30 sends to the image forming apparatus 1200a document list request command to request a list of documents stored inthe image forming apparatus 1200.

At step S351-2, the image forming apparatus 1200, in response to receiptof the document list request command from the terminal 30, uses thedocument management Web service execution part 130 to acquire thedocument list from HDD 1303, and sends the document list to the terminal30.

At step S352, the terminal 30, in response to receipt of the documentlist from the image forming apparatus 1200, sends to the image formingapparatus 1200 a thumbnail request command to request thumbnail data tobe displayed on the display part 13.

At step S352-2, the image forming apparatus 1200, in response to receiptof the thumbnail request command from the terminal 30, uses the documentmanagement Web service execution part 130 to operate corresponding tothe thumbnail request command. When the image forming apparatus 1200acquires the thumbnail data through the document management Web serviceexecution part 130, the image forming apparatus 1200 sends the thumbnaildata to the terminal 30. Here, the thumbnail data are reduced-size imagedata of the top pages of documents stored in the image forming apparatus1200.

At step S353, when the document list of the image forming apparatus 1200is displayed in thumbnail representation on the display part 13 of theterminal 30 based on the received thumbnail data, the user determineswhich document should be copied to which apparatus by dragging anddropping a thumbnail of a desired document toward a desired apparatus.In this embodiment, the user drags and drops a document in the imageforming apparatus 1200 toward the image forming apparatus 1000.

At step S354, the terminal 30 sends to the image forming apparatus 1200a bibliographic information request command to request bibliographicinformation regarding the selected document.

At step S354-2, the image forming apparatus 1200, in response to receiptof the bibliographic information request command from the terminal 30,uses the document management Web service execution part 130 to acquirethe bibliographic information from HDD 1303, and sends the bibliographicinformation to the terminal 30.

At step S355, the terminal 30, in response to receipt of thebibliographic information from the image forming apparatus 1200, sendsto the image forming apparatus 1200 a system information request commandto request system information.

At step S355-2, the terminal 30, in response to receipt of the systeminformation request command from the image forming apparatus 1200,examines feasibility of the copying process using a ticket.

At step S356, the terminal 30 displays a copying confirmation dialog onthe display part 13.

When the user chooses OK to start the copying process at step S357, theterminal 30 sends to the image forming apparatus 1000 a document writingticket request command to request a ticket to write a document in theimage forming apparatus 1000 at step S358.

At step S358-2, the image forming apparatus 1000, in response to receiptof the document writing ticket request command from the terminal 30,sends the ticket to the terminal 30.

At step S359, the terminal 30, in response to receipt of the ticket fromthe image forming apparatus 1000, sends to the image forming apparatus1200 a document writing request command to write the selected documentin the image forming apparatus 1000 by authority of the ticket.

At step S360, when the image forming apparatus 1200 receives thedocument writing request command using the ticket from the terminal 30,the sequence control part 310 of the document process control part 300starts to control cooperation with the image forming apparatus 1000 toperform the copying process. The image forming apparatus 1200 uses thesequence control part 310 to send to the image forming apparatus 1000 anempty file creation request command to create an empty file.

At step S360-2, the image forming apparatus 1000, in response to receiptof the empty file creation request command from the image formingapparatus 1200, creates an empty file and sends the file ID of the emptyfile to the image forming apparatus 1200.

At step S361, the image forming apparatus 1200, in response to receiptof the file ID from the image forming apparatus 1000, uses the sequencecontrol part 310 to send to the image forming apparatus 1000 a writabledocument type list request command to request a list of document typeswritable in the image forming apparatus 1000.

At step S361-2, the image forming apparatus 1000, in response to receiptof the writable document type list request command from the imageforming apparatus 1200, sends the writable document type list to theimage forming apparatus 1200.

At step S362, the image forming apparatus 1200, in response to receiptof the writable document type list from the image forming apparatus1000, maintains the writable document type list as a receiver documenttype list 304. Then, the image forming apparatus 1200 uses the sequencecontrol part 310 to internally issue an acquirable document type listrequest command to request a list of document types acquirable from theimage forming apparatus 1200, and maintains the acquirable document typelist as a transmitter document type list 302.

At step S363, the sequence control part 310 of the image formingapparatus 1200 uses the document type determination part 320 todetermine whether or not there is a document type acquirable from theimage forming apparatus 1200 and writable in the image forming apparatus1000 based on the transmitter document type list 302 and the receiverdocument type list 304, and determines the best document type. Based onthe determination, if there are a plurality of such document types, thedocument type determination part 320 determines one of the documenttypes as the best document type. If there is no such a document type,the document type determination part 320 determines a predetermineddocument type as the best document type.

At step S364, the sequence control part 310 sends to the image formingapparatus 1000 a page image writing request command to write a pageimage in the empty file identified by the file ID by authority of theticket.

At step S365, the image forming apparatus 1000, in response to receiptof the page image from the image forming apparatus 1200, uses thedocument management Web service execution part 130B to store the pageimage in the identified empty file.

At step S365-2, after storing of all page images of the selecteddocument, the image forming apparatus 1000 sends a copying completionmessage to the image forming apparatus 1200. In the page image writingrequest command, for example, a plurality of page images of the selecteddocument may be designated. Alternatively, whenever the image formingapparatus 1000 receives each page image from the image forming apparatus1200, the image forming apparatus 1000 may iteratively store the pageimage in the identified file.

At step S365-4, the image forming apparatus 1200, in response of thecopying completion message from the image forming apparatus 1000, sendsto the terminal 30 a document writing request completion message toindicate that the document writing request command has been fulfilled.

At step S366, the terminal 30, in response to receipt of the documentwriting request completion message from the image forming apparatus1200, displays a copying completion dialog on the display part 13.

In the terminal 30, which serves as an operator apparatus, the SOAPcommand creation part 210C of the client part 200C sets request commandssent to the image forming apparatus 1000 or 1200 as SOAP commandsincorporated in messages of HTTP requests (S351, S352, S354, S355, S358and S359), and the SOAP response interpretation part 220C of the clientpart 200C extracts HTTP responses for process results corresponding tothe HTTP requests.

In the image forming apparatus 1000, which serves as the documentreceiver apparatus, the SOAP command analysis part 110B of the serverpart 1002 analyzes received request commands as SOAP commands, and thedocument management Web service execution part 130B executes processescorresponding to the HTTP requests. Then, the SOAP response creationpart 120B of the server part 100 provides process results of thedocument management Web service execution part 130B as Web services tothe terminal 30 or the image forming apparatus 1200 (S335-2, S338-2,S360-2, S361-2 and S365-2).

In the image forming apparatus 1200, which serves as the documenttransmitter apparatus, the SOAP command creation part 210 of the clientpart 200 sets request commands sent to the image forming apparatus 1000as SOAP commands incorporated in messages of HTTP requests (S360, S361and S364), and the SOAP response interpretation part 220 of the clientpart 200 extracts HTTP responses for process results corresponding tothe HTTP requests. Also, the SOAP command analysis part 110 of theserver part 100 analyzes received request commands as SOAP commands, andprovides process results corresponding to the SOAP commands as Webservices to the terminal 30 (S351-2, S352-2, S354-2 and S364-4).

According to the above-mentioned third document copying process for thethird pattern shown in FIG. 27, when a user of the terminal 30 selects adocument stored in the image forming apparatus 1200, the document can becopied from the image forming apparatus 1200 to the image formingapparatus 1000 by storing the document in HDD 1303B of the image formingapparatus 1000 in an appropriate document type.

A description is given, with reference to FIG. 31 through FIG. 36, ofthe above-mentioned individual HTTP requests and the corresponding HTTPresponses according to the third embodiment.

FIG. 31 shows an exemplary HTTP request for a document writing requestcommand using a ticket according to the third embodiment.

Referring to FIG. 31, a code portion 31 indicates a URL to which theHTTP request should be sent by POST method. For example, the URL“netdoc” is designated in the code portion 31. Furthermore, a codeportion 32 indicates a URL to indicate the purpose of the HTTP request.For example, the URL “http://foo.bar.com/netdoc/documentmanagement” isdescribed in the code portion 32 to designate document management as thepurpose of the HTTP request.

In a code portion 33, a SOAP header is provided to indicate a rootelement. In a code portion 34, a SOAP body is provided. The code portion34 includes a code portion 35 ranging from <ns:documentmanagement> to</ns:documentmanagement>. In the code portion 35, a SOAP command tospecify a requested process, information referred to for the process andothers are described. In the document writing request command using aticket, a ticket number is specified in a code portion 36 ranging from<ticketId> to </ticketId>, and the SOAP command is specified in a codeportion 37 ranging from <operation> to </operation>. For example, “456”and “insertFileByTicket” are designated as the ticket number and theSOAP command, respectively, in the illustration.

FIG. 32 shows an exemplary HTTP response corresponding to the HTTPrequest shown in FIG. 31 according to the third embodiment.

Referring to FIG. 32, a code portion 42 indicates that the HTTP requestshown in FIG. 10 has been successfully fulfilled. In a code portion 43,a SOAP header is provided to indicate a root element. In a code portion44, a SOAP body is provided. The code portion 44 includes a code portion45 ranging from <ns:documentmanagementResponse> to</ns:documentmanagementResponse>. In the code portion 45, “success” toindicate that the requested process has been successfully terminated isdescribed.

FIG. 33 shows an exemplary HTTP request for a writable document typelist request command according to the third embodiment. In FIG. 33, thesame code portions as those shown in FIG. 31 are designated by the samereference numerals and the description thereof is omitted.

Referring to FIG. 33, a code portion 34 is the SOAP body of the HTTPrequest. In a code portion 50 ranging from <operation> to </operation>,a SOAP command “getFileVariation” is designated.

FIG. 34 shows an exemplary HTTP response for the writable document typelist request command shown in FIG. 33 according to the third embodiment.In FIG. 34, the same code portions as those shown in FIG. 32 aredesignated by the same reference numerals and the description thereof isomitted.

Referring to FIG. 34 a code portion 44 is the SOAP body of the HTTPresponse. In code portions 52, 53 and 54, each of which ranges from<type> to </type>, three document types writable in the image formingapparatus 1000 are set. In the code portion 52, a compression format ofimage data is designated as “Tiff” by sandwiching between <format> and</format>. An image type is designated as “1 bit/dot” by sandwichingbetween <imageType> and </imageType>. A resolution is designated as“600×600” by sandwiching between <binary> and </binary>. In the codeportion 53, a compression format of image data is designated as “Jpeg”by sandwiching between <format> and </format>. An image type isdesignated as “8 bit/dot” by sandwiching between <imageType> and</imageType>. A resolution is designated as “300×300” by sandwichingbetween <binary> and </binary>. In the code portion 54, a compressionformat of image data is designated as “Jpeg2000” by sandwiching between<format> and </format>. An image type is designated as “8 bit/dot” bysandwiching between <imageType> and </imageType>. A resolution isdesignated as “600×600” by sandwiching between <binary> and </binary>.

When the image forming apparatus 1200 receives such an HTTP response,the SOAP response interpretation part 220 extracts document types fromthe code portions 52 through 54, and the document types {“Tiff”, “1bit/dot”, 600×600}, {“Jpeg”, “8 bit/dot”, 300×300} and {“Jpeg2000”, “8bit/dot”, 600×600} are set as a transmitter document type list 302. Onthe other hand, for example, when the image forming apparatus 1200acquires document types {“Tiff”, “8 bit/dot”, 600×600} and {“Jpeg”, “8bit/dot”, 300×300} by internally issuing an acquirable document typelist request command, the document types {“Tiff”, “8 bit/dot”, 600×600}and {“Jpeg”, “8 bit/dot”, 300×300} are set as a receiver document typelist 304. The document type determination part 320 determines whether ornot there is a document type commonly included in the transmitterdocument type list 302 and the receiver document type list 304. In thisexample, the document type determination par 320 selects the documenttype {“Jpeg”, “8 bit/dot”, 300×300}, because only the document type{“Jpeg”, “8 bit/dot”, 300×300} is commonly included in the transmitterdocument type list 302 and the receiver document type list 304. Thedetermined document type is set in an HTTP request as illustrated inFIG. 35.

FIG. 35 shows an exemplary HTTP request for a page image writing requestcommand according to the third embodiment. In FIG. 35, the same codeportions as those shown in FIG. 31 are designated by the same referencenumerals and the description thereof is omitted.

Referring to FIG. 35, a code portion 81 indicates that there are aplurality of differently formatted data items in the HTTP request. Incode portions 86, “XX_boundary” indicates a boundary between the dataitems. In a code portion 82, text data information is provided. Forexample, the text data information may include a text description type,a code type, and the length of the text data. In a code portion 80, aSOAP command is specified by sandwiching between <operation> and</operation>. For example, if “putFile(FileID)” is designated as theSOAP command, a page image is written in a file identified by FileID inthe image forming apparatus 1000.

On the other hand, in a code portion 84, image data information isprovided. For example, the image data information may include an imagedata type, a transferred data type such as “text” or “binary”, and thelength of the image data. Subsequently, image data 65 are provided. Forexample, if the data type is “Tiff” and the transferred data type is“binary”, the binary Tiff image data 65 are provided.

In order to copy a document stored in the image forming apparatus 1200,the image forming apparatus 1000 extracts the binary Tiff image datafrom the HTTP request shown in FIG. 35 and stores the image data in HDD1303B.

FIG. 36 shows an exemplary HTTP response for the page image writingrequest command shown in FIG. 35 according to the third embodiment. InFIG. 36, the same code portions as those shown in FIG. 31 are designatedby the same reference numerals and the description thereof is omitted.

Referring to FIG. 36, in a code portion 87 ranging from<ns:documentmanagementResponse> to </ns:documentmanagementResponse>, aresult of the copying process is provided. For example, in a codeportion 88, “success” to indicate that the requested process has beensuccessfully terminated is provided by sandwiching between <result> and</result>.

In the above description, the HTTP request incorporating image data issent to the image forming apparatus 1000. However, the image data may betransmitted and received, for example, in accordance with file transferprotocol (ftp3).

In the third embodiment of the present invention, the following SOAPcommands are used.

TABLE 2 SOAP command Operation getList get a document list getThumbnailget thumbnail images getFileInfo get file bibliographic informationgetSystemInfo get system information getFileVariation get an acquirableor writable document type list getInsertTicket get a ticket to write(insert) a document insertFileByTicket write (insert) document datathrough a ticket creatDoc create an empty document putFile(FileID) writea document in a file identified by FileID

These SOAP commands are designated by sandwiching between <operation>and </operation> in a SOAP body as described with reference to FIG. 31,FIG. 33 and FIG. 35.

A description is given, with reference to FIG. 37 through FIG. 40, ofexemplary screens displayed on the operation panels 1310 and 1310B andthe display part 13 according to the third embodiment.

FIG. 37 shows an exemplary copying manipulation screen 400 according tothe third embodiment.

Referring to FIG. 37, the copying manipulation screen 400 includes anapparatus list display area 401 to display a list of apparatusesconnected to each other via the network 15, and a thumbnail display area402 to display thumbnails of individual documents stored in an apparatusselected in the apparatus list display area 401.

In the copying manipulation screen 400, for example, when a user selectsthe image forming apparatus 1200 as a document transmitter apparatusfrom listed apparatuses displayed on the apparatus list display area401, a list of documents stored in the image forming apparatus 1200 isdisplayed in thumbnail representation in the thumbnail display area 402.In the thumbnail display area 402, the user selects a document A andfurther designates the image forming apparatus 1000 as a documentreceiver apparatus through user's dragging and dropping operations bymeans of an arrow 403, as illustrated in FIG. 37. At this time, the usermay select a plurality of documents.

When the user designates the image forming apparatus 1000 as thedocument receiver apparatus through the dragging and droppingoperations, a copying confirmation dialog is displayed so that the usercan confirm the copying process as illustrated in FIG. 38.

FIG. 38 shows an exemplary copying confirmation dialog 410 according tothe third embodiment.

Referring to FIG. 38, the copying confirmation dialog 410 includes amessage display area 411 to display a message to the user, a cancelbutton 412 to cancel the copying process, and an OK button 413 to startthe copying process.

For example, if the user selects a plurality of documents A, B, C and Din the copying manipulation screen 400 shown in FIG. 37, a message suchas “May the documents A, B, C and D be copied to the image formingapparatus 1000?” is displayed in the message display area 411 so thatthe user can confirm the selected documents and apparatus.

Then, when the user chooses the OK button 413 in the copyingconfirmation dialog 410, a plural document copying mode setting dialogto set a copying mode of the plurality of documents as illustrated inFIG. 39. On the other hand, for example, if the user selects only thedocument A in the copying manipulation screen 400 shown in FIG. 37, theuser can start execution of the copying process by choosing the OKbutton 413 in the copying confirmation dialog 410 shown in FIG. 37.

FIG. 39 shows an exemplary plural document copying mode setting dialog440 according to the third embodiment.

Referring to FIG. 39, the plural document copying mode setting dialog440 includes a copying mode selection area 441 to select a copying mode,a copying order setting button 442 to set a copying order of thedocuments, a cancel button 443 to cancel the copying process, and an OKbutton 444 to start the copying process.

In the copying mode selection area 441, a message such as “Copy theselected documents as ◯ separate documents ◯ a single document.” isdisplayed When the user chooses one of the two options, the selectedoption is displayed as ⊚. In the illustrative example, the user selects“a single document”. In addition, when the user selects the copyingorder setting button 442 to designate a copying order of the documents,a plural document copying order setting dialog is displayed asillustrated in FIG. 40.

FIG. 40 shows an exemplary plural document copying order setting dialog450 according to the third embodiment.

Referring to FIG. 40, the plural document copying order setting dialog450 includes a selected document list display area 451 to display a listof documents selected by the user, an UP button 452 to ascend thecopying order of a document, a DOWN button 453 to descend the copyingorder of a document, a cancel button 454 to cancel the copying process,and an OK button 455 to start the copying process.

In the plural document copying order setting dialog 450, if the userwants to ascend the copying order of the document B, the user firstselects the document B in the selected document list display area 451and then chooses the UP button. As a result, the document B can becopied before the document A. In contrast, if the user chooses the DOWNbutton 453, the document B can be copied after the document C or thedocument D. After setting the copying order, if the user chooses the OKbutton 455, the copying process is started, and the documents A throughD are copied from the image forming apparatus 1200 to the image formingapparatus 1000 in the designated copying order.

In the third embodiment of the present invention, if the image formingapparatus 1200 having the document process control part 300 requests theimage forming apparatus 1000 to write a selected document, which isstored in the image forming apparatus 1200, in HDD 1303B of the imageforming apparatus 1000 in the format of a document type processable tothe image forming apparatuses 1000 and 1200, the image formingapparatuses 1000 and 1200 can properly cooperate corresponding to therequest via the network 15.

For example, if the size of a selected document that the image formingapparatus 1200, which serves as the document transmitter apparatus,accommodates is greater than the maximal size of documents that theimage forming apparatus 1000, which serves as the document receiverapparatus, can store, the document process control part 300 can use animage scaling function thereof to send a reduced-size page image to theimage forming apparatus 1000 based on determination of the document typedetermination part 320.

Also, since the document process control part 300 flexibly controlscooperation with the image forming apparatuses 1000 and 1200 dependingon types of processes such as a copying process and a printing process,it is possible to perform various types of processes by properlycoordinating apparatuses connected to each other via a network.

In the third embodiment, apparatuses connected to each other via anetwork cooperate to perform a copying process. However, the presentinvention is not limited to such a copying process. The presentinvention is applicable to file management, scanner control, and so on.In addition, the present invention is applicable to processing ofinformation regarding the image forming apparatuses 1000 and 1200.

Also, the image forming apparatuses 1000 and 1200 and the terminal 30according to the embodiment are not limited to communication via a fixedline LAN (Local Area Network). In other words, although physical layersdiffers in a network system, such as a wireless LAN and Bluetooth, SOAPmessages can be exchanged in such a network system in accordance withTCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol). Thus, it ispossible to implement various processes according to the embodiment asWeb services in accordance with http and SOAP. Furthermore, communicatedcontents are allowed to be extended in a parallel system, such as acentronics and SCSI. Thus, as long as there is agreement between devicesthat will communicate each other, it is possible to implement messageexchange in accordance with SOAP.

A description is given, with reference to the FIG. 41 through FIG. 53,of a copying process according to a fourth embodiment of the presentinvention.

In the fourth embodiment, the terminal 30 has the document processcontrol part 300, which plays central role in cooperation with the imageforming apparatuses 1000 and 1200 to perform a copying process.

A description is given, with reference to FIG. 41, of how the terminal30 having the document process control part 300 according to the fourthembodiment provides a Web service to other apparatuses connected via anetwork.

FIG. 41 shows an exemplary structure of a network system according tothe fourth embodiment. In the illustrated network system, the imageforming apparatus 1200, the image forming apparatus 1000, and theterminal 30 are connected to each other via a network 15. The imageforming apparatus 1200 having no document process control part 300serves as a document receiver apparatus. The image forming apparatus1000 having no document process control part 300 serves as a documenttransmitter apparatus. The terminal 30 has the document process controlpart 300. In the fourth embodiment, the image forming apparatuses 1000and 1200 has the same functional structures and hardware configurationsas described in detail below.

Referring to FIG. 41, document data or image data (hereinafter which arecollectively referred to as a document) stored in HDD 1303 of the imageforming apparatus 1200 are copied to the image forming apparatus 1000 inaccordance with illustrated three patterns. In the illustrativeembodiment, the image forming apparatus 1000, which serves as a documenttransmitter apparatus, sends a document stored therein to the imageforming apparatus 1200. On the other hand, the image forming apparatus1200, which serves as a document receiver apparatus, receives thedocument from the image forming apparatus 1000, and the document iscopied to the image forming apparatus 1200 by storing the document inHDD 1303 of the image forming apparatus 1200.

A description is given, with reference to FIG. 42 and FIG. 43, offunctional structures of the image forming apparatuses 1000 and 1200 andthe terminal 30 according to the fourth embodiment.

FIG. 42 shows exemplary functional structures of the image formingapparatuses 1000 and 1200 having no document process control part 300according to the fourth embodiment. In FIG. 42, only primary functionalcomponents of the image forming apparatuses 1000 and 1200 shown in FIG.1 are illustrated and the other functional components are omitted.

Referring to FIG. 42, the document management Web service application1216 of the image forming apparatus 1200 comprises a server part 100, adocument management Web service execution part (WSF) 130, and a clientpart 200.

The server part 100 controls message exchanges in accordance with SOAP.The document management Web service execution part 130, which serves asa Web service function (WSF) to provide Web services, manages documentsby accessing HDD 1303 accommodating the documents. The client part 200exchanges SOAP messages to request and provide Web services.

The server part 100 comprises a SOAP command analysis part 110 and aSOAP response creation part 120. The SOAP command analysis part 110analyzes SOAP commands incorporated in HTTP requests. The SOAP responsecreation part 120 creates responses corresponding to the SOAP commandsas SOAP messages incorporated in HTTP responses.

When the image forming apparatus 1200 receives an HTTP request, the SOAPcommand analysis part 110 analyzes a SOAP command incorporated in anHTTP request, and informs the document management Web service executionpart 130 what Web service the document management Web service executionpart 130 should execute. In response to receipt of the notification fromthe SOAP command analysis part 110, for example, the document managementWeb service execution part 130 stores a processed document processed inHDD 1303, updates and deletes a document stored in HDD 1303, andacquires bibliographic information regarding a document stored in HDD1303.

The SOAP response creation part 120, depending on notification from theSOAP command analysis part 130, receives a process result of thedocument management Web service execution part 130 from the documentmanagement Web service execution part 130, generates a SOAP message toindicate the process result, and uses httpd 2 of NCS 1228 to send themessage as an HTTP response to the network 15.

The client part 200 comprises a SOAP command creation part 210 and aSOAP response interpretation part 220. The SOAP command creation part210 generates SOAP messages indicative of process requests in such a waythat the SOAP messages are incorporated in an HTTP request. The SOAPresponse interpretation part 220 interprets SOAP messages incorporatedin received HTTP responses.

The image forming apparatus 1000 according to the fourth embodiment hasthe same functional structure as that of the image forming apparatus1200, and the description thereof is omitted. In FIG. 41, the samefunctional components of the image forming apparatus 1000 as those ofthe image forming apparatus 1200 are designated by the same referencenumerals followed by the capital letter “B”.

A description is given, with reference to FIG. 43, of a functionalstructure of the terminal 30 having the document process control part300 according to the fourth embodiment.

FIG. 43 shows an exemplary functional structure of the terminal 30having the document process control part 300 according to the fourthembodiment.

Referring to FIG. 43, the terminal 30, which is a personal computercontrolled by CPU, comprises a network control part 330 to controlcommunication to other apparatuses connected via the network 15 inaccordance with HTTP, a client part 200C to control message exchanges inaccordance with SOAP, an I/o control part 340 to control inputs andoutputs of data from/to a user, a display part 13 to display datasupplied from the I/O control part 340, and a document process controlpart 300 to control a document copying process to copy a document fromthe image forming apparatus 1000 to the image forming apparatus 1200 inresponse to a user's request to copy the document.

In the terminal 30, a user selects a target document to be copied fromlisted documents, which are displayed on the display part 13, stored inthe image forming apparatus 1000 by means of an input device (notillustrated) such as a mouse or a keyboard, and then designates theimage forming apparatus 1200 as an apparatus to which the selecteddocument should be copied. When the user inputs data, the I/O controlpart 340 sends the data to the SOAP command creation part 210C. Based onthe data received from the I/O control part 340, the SOAP commandcreation part 210C generates a SOAP command to copy the selecteddocument from the image forming apparatus 1000 to the image formingapparatus 1200, and sends the SOAP command to the network control part330. The network control part 330 sends the SOAP command as an HTTPrequest to the image forming apparatus 1200.

The network control part 330, in response to receipt of an HTTP responsefrom the image forming apparatus 1200, sends the HTTP response to theSOAP response interpretation part 220C of the client part 200C. The SOAPresponse interpretation part 220C extracts a process result from theHTTP response, and sends the process result to the I/o control part 340so as to display the process result on the display part 13. The I/Ocontrol part 340 displays the process result on the display part 13.

The document management control part 300 comprises a sequence controlpart 310 and a document type determination part 320. The sequencecontrol part 310 controls a sequence of processes to copy a documentstored in the image forming apparatus 1000 to the image formingapparatus 1200. The document type determination part 320 determines whatdocument type processable to the image forming apparatuses 1000 and1200.

The sequence control part 310, when the user selects a copying processin a screen displayed on the display part 13, instructs the SOAP commandcreation part 210C to send to the image forming apparatus 1000 anacquirable document type list request command to request a list ofdocument types acquirable from the image forming apparatus 1000.Furthermore, the sequence control part 310 instructs the SOAP commandcreation part 210C to send to the image forming apparatus 1200 awritable document type list request command to request a list ofdocument types writable in the image forming apparatus 1200.

The sequence control part 310, in response to receipt of the acquirabledocument type list and the writable document type list from the SOAPresponse interpretation part 220, requests the document typedetermination part 320 to determine a document type processable to theimage forming apparatuses 1000 and 1200. Then, the sequence control part310 sends to the SOAP command creation part 210C a copying requestcommand to copy a selected document from the image forming apparatus1000 to the image forming apparatus 1200 in the format of the determineddocument type, and displays on the display part 13 a copying completiondialog to indicate completion of the copying process depending on aresponse corresponding to the copying request.

The document type determination part 320 determines whether or not thereis a document type processable to both the image forming apparatuses1000 and 1200 based on a transmitter document type list 302, whichincludes document types acquirable from the image forming apparatus1000, and a receiver document type list 304, which includes documenttypes writable in the image forming apparatus 1200, and determines thebest document type The document type determination part 320 informs thesequence control part 310 of the best document type.

A description is given, with reference to FIG. 44, of a PULL typedocument copying process according to the fourth embodiment.

In the PULL type document copying process, the image forming apparatus1200, in response to receipt of a document copying request from a userof the terminal 30, acquires a designated document from the imageforming apparatus 1000 and stores the document in HDD 1303.

FIG. 44 shows an exemplary operation of the PULL type document copyingprocess according to the fourth embodiment.

Referring to FIG. 44, a user of the terminal 30 selects the imageforming apparatus 1000 accommodating a desired document from listedapparatuses, which are displayed on the display part 13, connected tothe terminal 30 via the network 15 at step S410.

At step S411, the terminal 30 sends to the image forming apparatus 1000a document list request command to request a list of documents stored inthe image forming apparatus 1000.

At step S411-2, the image forming apparatus 1000, in response to receiptof the document list request command from the terminal 30, uses thedocument management Web service execution part 130B to acquire thedocument list from HDD 1303B and sends the document list to the terminal30.

At step S412, the terminal 30, in response to receipt of the documentlist from the image forming apparatus 1000, sends to the image formingapparatus 1000 a thumbnail request command to request thumbnail data tode displayed on the display part 13.

At step S412-2, when the image forming apparatus 1000 receives thethumbnail request command from the terminal 30, the document managementWeb service execution part 130B operates corresponding to the thumbnailrequest command. Then, the image forming apparatus 1000 sends to theterminal 30 the thumbnail data acquired by the document management Webservice execution part 130B. For example, the thumbnail data arereduced-size image data of the top pages of documents stored in theimage forming apparatus 1000.

At step S413, when the document list of the image forming apparatus 1000is displayed in thumbnail representation on the display part 13 of theterminal 30, the user determines which document should be copied towhich apparatus by dragging and dropping a thumbnail of a desireddocument toward a desired apparatus. In this embodiment, the user dragsand drops a document stored in the image forming apparatus 1000 towardthe image forming apparatus 1200.

At step S414, the terminal 30 sends to the image forming apparatus 1000a bibliographic information request command to request bibliographicinformation regarding the selected document.

At step S414-2, the image forming apparatus 1000, in response to receiptof the bibliographic information request command from the terminal 30,uses the document management Web service execution part 130B to acquirethe bibliographic information from HDD 1303B and sends the bibliographicinformation to the terminal 30.

At step S415, the terminal 30, in response to receipt of thebibliographic information from the image forming apparatus 1000, sendsto the image forming apparatus 1000 a system information request commandto request system information regarding the image forming apparatus1000.

At step S415-2, the image forming apparatus 1000, in response to receiptof the system information request command from the terminal 30, sendsthe system information to the terminal 30.

At step S416, the terminal 30, in response to receipt of the systeminformation from the image forming apparatus 1000, examines feasibilityof the copying process using a ticket based on the system information.Then, the terminal 30 sends to the image forming apparatus 1200 a systeminformation request command to request system information regarding theimage forming apparatus 1200.

At step S416-2, the image forming apparatus 1200, in response to receiptof the system information request command from the terminal 30, sendsthe system information to the terminal 30.

At step S417, the terminal 30, in response to receipt of the systeminformation from the image forming apparatus 1200, examines feasibilityof the copying process using a ticket based on the system information.Then, the terminal 30 displays a copying confirmation dialog on thedisplay part 13.

When the user chooses OK to start the copying process at step S418, theterminal 30 sends to the image forming apparatus 1000 an acquirabledocument type list request command to request a list of document typesacquirable from the image forming apparatus 1000 at step S419.

At step S419-2, the image forming apparatus 1000, in response to receiptof the acquirable document type list request command from the terminal30, sends the acquirable document type list to the terminal 30.

At step S420, the terminal 30, in response to receipt of the acquirabledocument type list from the image forming apparatus 1000, maintains theacquirable document type list as a transmitter document type list 302.Furthermore, the terminal 30 sends to the image forming apparatus 1200 awritable document type list request command to request a list ofdocument types writable in the image forming apparatus 1200.

At step S420-2, the image forming apparatus 1200, in response to receiptof the writable document type list request command from the terminal 30,sends the writable document type list to the terminal 30.

At step S421, the terminal 30, in response to receipt of the writabledocument type list from the image forming apparatus 1200, maintains thewritable document type list as a receiver document type list 304. Then,the sequence control part 310 of the terminal 30 uses the document typedetermination part 320 to determine whether or not there is a documenttype acquirable from the image forming apparatus 1000 and writable inthe image forming apparatus 1200 based on the transmitter document typelist 302 and the receiver document type list 304, and determines thebest document type. Based on the determination, if there are a pluralityof such document types, the document type determination part 320determines one of the document types as the best document type. If thereis no such a document type, the document type determination part 320determines a predetermined document type as the best document type.

At step S422, the terminal 30 sends to the image forming apparatus 1000a ticket request command to request a ticket to use the selecteddocument stored in the image forming apparatus 1000. Here, thedetermined document type is included in the ticket request command.

At step S422-2, the image forming apparatus 1000, in response to receiptof the ticket request command from the terminal 30, sends the ticket tothe terminal 30.

At step S423, the terminal 30, in response to receipt of the ticket fromthe image forming apparatus 1000, sends to the image forming apparatus1200 a document copying request command to copy the selected documentfrom the image forming apparatus 1000 to the image forming apparatus1200 by authority of the ticket.

At step S424, the image forming apparatus 1200, in response to receiptof the document copying request command from the terminal 30, sends tothe image forming apparatus 1000 a page image request command to requesta page image of the selected document in the format of the document typedesignated in the ticket. In the page image request command, forexample, a plurality of page images of the selected document may bedesignated. Alternatively, whenever the image forming apparatus 1200receives each page image from the image forming apparatus 1000, theimage forming apparatus 1200 may send to the image forming apparatus1000 a page image request command for the next page image.

At step S425, the image forming apparatus 1200 stores the page imagereceived from the image forming apparatus 1000 in HDD 1303.

At step S425-2, after storing of all page images of the selecteddocument in HDD 1303, the image forming apparatus 1200 sends to theterminal 30 a document copying request completion message to indicatethat the document copying request has been fulfilled.

At step S426, the terminal 30, in response to receipt of the documentcopying request completion message from the image forming apparatus1200, displays on the display part 13 a copying completion dialog toindicate that the copying process has been terminated.

In the terminal 30, which serves as an operator apparatus, the SOAPcommand creation part 210C of the client part 200C sets request commandssent to the image forming apparatuses 1000 and 1200 as SOAP commandsincorporated in messages of HTTP requests (S411, S412, S414, S415, S416,S419, S420, S422 and S423). The SOAP interpretation part 220C of theclient part 200C extracts HTTP responses for process resultscorresponding to the HTTP requests.

In the image forming apparatus 1000, which serves as the documenttransmitter apparatus, the SOAP command analysis part 110B of the serverpart 100B analyzes received request commands as SOAP commands, and thedocument management Web service execution part 130B performs processescorresponding to the SOAP commands. The SOAP response creation part 120Bof the server part 100B provides the terminal 30 with process results ofthe document management Web service execution part 130B as Web services(S411-2, S412-2, S414-2, S415-2, S419-2 and S422-2).

On the other hand, in the image forming apparatus 1200, which serves asthe document receiver apparatus, the SOAP command creation part 210 ofthe client part 200 sets request commands sent to the image formingapparatus 1000 as SOAP commands incorporated in messages of HTTPrequests (S424). The SOAP response interpretation part 220 of the clientpart 200 extracts HTTP responses for process results corresponding tothe HTTP requests. Also, the SOAP command analysis part 110 of theserver part 100 analyzes received request commands as SOAP commands, andthe SOAP response creation part 120 of the server part 100 providesprocess results corresponding to the SOAP command as Web services to theterminal 30 (S425-2).

According to the above-mentioned PULL type document copying process,when a user of the terminal 30 having the document process control part300 selects a document stored in the image forming apparatus 1000, thedocument can be copied from the image forming apparatus 1000 to theimage forming apparatus 1200 by storing the document in HDD 1303 of theimage forming apparatus 1200 in an appropriate document type.

A description is given, with reference to FIG. 45 through FIG. 50, ofthe above-mentioned individual request commands according to the fourthembodiment FIG. 45 shows an exemplary HTTP request for an acquirabledocument type list request command according to the fourth embodiment.

Referring to FIG. 45, a code portion 31 indicates a URL to which theHTTP request should be sent by POST method. For example, the URL“netdoc” is designated in the code portion 31. Furthermore, a codeportion 32 shows a URL to indicate the purpose of the HTTP request. Forexample, the URL “http://foo.bar.com/netdoc/documentmanagement” isdescribed in the code portion 32 to designate document management as thepurpose of the HTTP request.

In a code portion 33, a SOAP header is provided to indicate a rootelement. In a code portion 34, a SOAP body is provided. The code portion34 includes a code portion 35 ranging from <ns:documentmanagement> to</ns:documentmanagement>. In the code portion 35, a SOAP command tospecify a requested process, information referred to for the process andothers are described. In a code portion 50 in the SOAP body, a SOAPcommand “getFileVariation” is designated by sandwiching between<operation> and </operation>.

FIG. 46 shows an exemplary HTTP response corresponding to the HTTPrequest shown in FIG. 45.

Referring to FIG. 46, a code portion 44 is the SOAP body of the HTTPresponse. In code portions 52; 53 and 54, each of which ranges from<type> to </type>, three document types acquirable from the imageforming apparatus 1000 are set. In the code portion 52, a compressionformat of image data is designated as “Tiff” by sandwiching between<format> and </format>. An image type is designated as “1 bit/dot” bysandwiching between <imageType> and </imageType>. A resolution isdesignated as “600×600” by sandwiching between <binary> and </binary>.In the code portion 53, a compression format of image data is designatedas “Jpeg” by sandwiching between <format> and </format>. An image typeis designated as “8 bit/dot” by sandwiching between <imageType> and</imageType>. A resolution is designated as “300×300” by sandwichingbetween <binary> and </binary>. In the code portion 54, a compressionformat of image data is designated as “Jpeg2000” by sandwiching between<format> and </format>. An image type is designated as “8 bit/dot” bysandwiching between <imageType> and </imageType>. A resolution isdesignated as “600×600” by sandwiching between <binary> and </binary>.

When the terminal 30 receives such an HTTP response, the SOAP responseinterpretation part 220C extracts document types from the code portions52 through 54, and the document types {“Tiff”, “1 bit/dot”, 600×600},{“Jpeg”, “8 bit/dot”, 300×300} and {“Jpeg2000”, “8 bit/dot”, 600×600}are set as a transmitter document type list 302. On the other hand, whenthe terminal 30 receives document types {“Tiff”, “8 bit/dot”, 600×600}and {“Jpeg”, “8 bit/dot”, 300×300}, the document types {“Tiff”, “8bit/dot”, 600×600} and {“Jpeg”, “8 bit/dot”, 300×300} are set as areceiver document type list 304. The document type determination part320 determines whether or not there is a document type commonly includedin the transmitter document type list 302 and the receiver document typelist 304. In this example, the document type determination part 320selects the document type {“Jpeg”, “8 bit/dot”, 300×300}, because onlythe document type {“Jpeg”, “8 bit/dot”, 300×300} is commonly included inthe transmitter type list 302 and the receiver document type list 304.The determined document type is set in an HTTP request as shown in FIG.49 described below.

FIG. 47 shows an exemplary HTTP request for a document copying requestcommand according to the fourth embodiment. In FIG. 47, the same codeportion as those shown in FIG. 45 are designated by the same referencenumerals and the description thereof is omitted.

Referring to FIG. 47, a code portion 31 indicates a URL to which theHTTP request should be sent by POST method. For example, the URL“netdoc” is written in the code portion 31. Furthermore, a code portion32 shows a URL to indicate the purpose of the HTTP request. For example,the URL “http://foo.bar.com/netdoc/documentmanagement” is described inthe code portion 32 to designate document management as the purpose ofthe HTTP request.

In a code portion 33, a SOAP header is provide to indicate a rootelement. In a code portion 34, a SOAP body is provided. The code portion34 includes a code portion 35 ranging from <ns:documentmanagement> to</ns:documentmanagement>. In the code portion 34, a SOAP command tospecify a requested process, information referred to for the process andothers are provided. In the document copying request command using aticket, a ticket number is specified in a code portion 36 ranging from<ticketId> to </ticketId>, and a SOAP command is specified in a codeportion 37 ranging from <operation> to </operation>. For example, “456”and “insertFileByTicket” are designated as the ticket number and theSOAP command, respectively, in the illustration.

FIG. 48 shows an exemplary HTTP response corresponding to the HTTPrequest shown in FIG. 47 according to the fourth embodiment. In FIG. 48,the same code portions as those shown in FIG. 46 are designated by thesame reference numerals and the description thereof is omitted.

Referring to FIG. 48, a code portion 42 indicates that the HTTP requestshown in FIG. 47 has been successfully fulfilled. In a code portion 43,a SOAP header is provided to indicate a root element. In a code portion44, a SOAP body is provided. The code portion 44 includes a code portion45 ranging from <ns:documentmanagementResponse> to</ns:documentmanagementResponse>. In the code portion 45, “success” toindicate that the requested process has been successfully terminated isdescribed.

FIG. 49 shows an exemplary HTTP request for a page image request commandaccording to the fourth embodiment. In FIG. 49, the same code portionsas those shown in FIG. 45 are designated by the same reference numeralsand the description thereof is omitted.

Referring to FIG. 49, a code portion 34 is the SOAP body of the HTTPrequest. In a code portion 59, the document type is specified bysandwiching between <type> and </type>. In a code portion 60, the SOAPcommand is specified by sandwiching between <operation and </operation>.For example, the document type {“Jpeg”, “8 bit/dot”, 300×300}, which isdesignated in the code portion 53 in FIG. 46, may be designated providedin the HTTP response. Also, “getFile(TicketID)” is specified as the SOAPcommand in the code portion.

FIG. 50 shows an exemplary HTTP response corresponding to the HTTPrequest shown in FIG. 49 according to the fourth embodiment. In FIG. 50,the same code portions as those shown in FIG. 46 are designated by thesame reference numerals and the description thereof is omitted.

Referring to FIG. 50, a code portion 61 indicates that there are aplurality of differently formatted data items in the HTTP response. In acode portion 66, “XX_boundary” indicates a boundary between the dataitem. In a code portion 62, text data information is provided. Forexample, the text data information may include a text description type,a code type and the length of the text data. In a code portion 63,“success” to indicate that the page image request command has beensuccessfully fulfilled is provided by sandwiching between <result> and</result>.

On the other hand, in a code portion 64, image data information isprovided. For example, the image data information may include an imagedata type, a transferred data type such as “text” or “binary”, and thelength of the image data. Subsequently, image data 65 are provided. Forexample, if the data type is “Tiff” and the transferred data type is“binary”, the binary Tiff image data 65 are provided.

In order to copy a document stored in the image forming apparatus 1000,the image forming apparatus 1200 extracts the binary Tiff image datafrom the HTTP response shown in FIG. 50 and stores the image data in HDD1303.

In the above description, the HTTP request incorporating image data issent to the image forming apparatus 1200. However, the image data may betransmitted and received, for example, in accordance with file transferprotocol (ftp3).

In the PULL type document copying sequence according to the fourthembodiment of the present invention, the following SOAP commands areused.

TABLE 3 SOAP command Operation getList get a document list getThumbnailget thumbnail images getFileInfo get file bibliographic informationgetSystemInfo get system information getFileVariation get an acquirableor writable document type list getCopyTicket get a ticket to copy adocument copyFileByTicket copy document data by a ticketgetFile(TicketID) get a document corresponding to a ticket ID

These SOAP commands are designated by sandwiching between <operation>and </operation> in a SOAP body as described with reference to FIG. 45,FIG. 47 and FIG. 49.

A description is given, with reference to FIG. 51, of a PUSH typedocument copying process according to the fourth embodiment.

In the PUSH type document copying process, the image forming apparatus1000, in response to receipt of a document writing request from a userof the terminal 30, sends to the image forming apparatus 1200 an HTTPrequest, which includes a designated document, to request the imageforming apparatus 1200 to store the attached document in HDD 1303.

FIG. 51 shows an exemplary operation of the PUSH type document copyingprocess according to the fourth embodiment.

Referring to FIG. 51, a user of the terminal selects the image formingapparatus 1000 accommodating a desired document from listed apparatuses,which are displayed on the display part 13, connected to the terminal 30via the network 15 at step S430.

At step S431, the terminal 30 sends to the image forming apparatus 1000a document list request command to request a list of documents stored inthe image forming apparatus 1000.

At step S431-2, the image forming apparatus 1000, in response to receiptof the document list request command from the terminal 30, uses thedocument management Web service execution part 130B to acquire thedocument list from HDD 1303B and sends the document list to the terminal30.

At step S432, the terminal 30, in response to receipt of the documentlist from the image forming apparatus 1000, sends to the image formingapparatus 1000 a thumbnail request command to request thumbnail data tode displayed on the display part 13.

At step S432-2, when the image forming apparatus 1000 receives thethumbnail request command from the terminal 30, the document managementWeb service execution part 130B operates corresponding to the thumbnailrequest command. Then, the image forming apparatus 1000 sends to theterminal 30 the thumbnail data acquired by the document management Webservice execution part 130B. For example, the thumbnail data arereduced-size image data of the top pages of documents stored in theimage forming apparatus 1000.

At step S433, when the document list of the image forming apparatus 1000is displayed in thumbnail representation on the display part 13 of theterminal 30, the user determines which document should be copied towhich apparatus by dragging and dropping a thumbnail of a desireddocument toward a desired apparatus. In this embodiment, the user dragsand drops a document stored in the image forming apparatus 1000 towardthe image forming apparatus 1200.

At step S434, the terminal 30 sends to the image forming apparatus 1000a bibliographic information request command to request bibliographicinformation regarding the selected document.

At step S434-2, the image forming apparatus 1000, in response to receiptof the bibliographic information request command from the terminal 30,uses the document management Web service execution part 130B to acquirethe bibliographic information from HDD 1303B and sends the bibliographicinformation to the terminal 30.

At step S435, the terminal 30, in response to receipt of thebibliographic information from the image forming apparatus 1000, sendsto the image forming apparatus 1000 a system information request commandto request system information regarding the image forming apparatus1000.

At step S435-2, the image forming apparatus 1000, in response to receiptof the system information request command from the terminal 30, sendsthe system information to the terminal 30.

At step S436, the terminal 30, in response to receipt of the systeminformation from the image forming apparatus 1000, examines feasibilityof the copying process using a ticket based on the system information.Then, the terminal 30 sends to the image forming apparatus 1200 a systeminformation request command to request system information regarding theimage forming apparatus 1200.

At step S436-2, the image forming apparatus 1200, in response to receiptof the system information request command from the terminal 30, sendsthe system information to the terminal 30.

At step S437, the terminal 30, in response to receipt of the systeminformation from the image forming apparatus 1200, examines feasibilityof the copying process using a ticket based on the system information.Then, the terminal 30 displays a copying confirmation dialog on thedisplay part 13.

When the user chooses OK to start the copying process at step S438, theterminal 30 sends to the image forming apparatus 1000 an acquirabledocument type list request command to request a list of document typesacquirable from the image forming apparatus 1000 at step S439.

At step S439-2, the image forming apparatus 1000, in response to receiptof the acquirable document type list request command from the terminal30, sends the acquirable document type list to the terminal 30.

At step S440, the terminal 30, in response to receipt of the acquirabledocument type list from the image forming apparatus 1000, maintains theacquirable document type list as a transmitter document type list 302.Furthermore, the terminal 30 sends to the image forming apparatus 1200 awritable document type list request command to request a list ofdocument types writable in the image forming apparatus 1200.

At step S440-2, the image forming apparatus 1200, in response to receiptof the writable document type list request command from the terminal 30,sends the writable document type list to the terminal 30.

At step S441, the terminal 30, in response to receipt of the writabledocument type list from the image forming apparatus 1200, maintains thewritable document type list as a receiver document type list 304. Then,the sequence control part 310 of the terminal 30 uses the document typedetermination part 320 to determine whether or not there is a documenttype acquirable from the image forming apparatus 1000 and writable inthe image forming apparatus 1200 based on the transmitter document typelist 302 and the receiver document type list 304, and determines thebest document type. Based on the determination, if there are a pluralityof such document types, the document type determination part 320determines one of the document types as the best document type. If thereis no such a document type, the document type determination part 320determines a predetermined document type as the best document type.

At step S442, the terminal 30 sends to the image forming apparatus 1200a document writing ticket request command to request a ticket to writedocuments in the image forming apparatus 1200.

At step S442-2, the image forming apparatus 1200, in response to receiptof the document writing ticket request command from the terminal 30,sends the ticket to the terminal 30.

At step S443, the terminal 30, in response to receipt of the documentwriting ticket from the image forming apparatus 1200, sends to the imageforming apparatus 1000 a document writing request command to write theselected document stored in the image forming apparatus 1000 in theimage forming apparatus 1200 by authority of the ticket. At this time,the determined document type is designated in the document writingrequest command.

At step S444, the image forming apparatus 1000, in response to receiptof the document writing request command from the terminal 30, sends tothe image forming apparatus 1200 an empty file creation request commandto request the image forming apparatus 1200 to create an empty file.

At step S444-2, the image forming apparatus 1200, in response to receiptof the empty file creation request command from the image formingapparatus 1000, creates an empty file and sends the file ID of the fileto the image forming apparatus 1000.

At step S445, the image forming apparatus 1000, in response to receiptof the file ID from the image forming apparatus 1200, sends to the imageforming apparatus 1200 a page image writing request command to write apage image in the file identified by the file ID by authority of theticket.

At step S446, the image forming apparatus 1200, in response to receiptof the page image writing request command from the image formingapparatus 1000, uses the document management Web service execution part130 to store the page image received from the image forming apparatus1000 in the file.

At step S446-2, after storing of all page images of the selecteddocument, the image forming apparatus 1200 sends to the image formingapparatus 1000 a page image writing request completion message. In thepage image writing request command, for example, a plurality of pageimages of the selected document may be designated. Alternatively,whenever the image forming apparatus 1200 receives each page image fromthe image forming apparatus 1000, the image forming apparatus 1200 mayiteratively send to the image forming apparatus 1000 a page imagerequest command for the next page image.

At step S446-4, the image forming apparatus 1000, in response to receiptof the page image writing request completion message from the imageforming apparatus 1200, sends to the terminal 30 a document writingrequest completion message to indicate that the document writing requesthas been fulfilled.

At step S447, the terminal 30, in response to receipt of the documentwriting request completion message from the image forming apparatus1000, displays on the display part 13 a copying completion dialog toindicate that the copying process has been terminated.

In the terminal 30, which serves as an operator apparatus, the SOAPcommand creation part 210C of the client part 200C sets request commandssent to the image forming apparatuses 1000 and 1200 as SOAP commandsincorporated in messages of HTTP requests (S431, S432, S434, S435, S436,S439, S440, S442 and S443). The SOAP response interpretation part 220Cof the client part 200C extracts HTTP responses for process resultscorresponding to the HTTP requests.

In the image forming apparatus 1200, which serves as the documentreceiver apparatus, the SOAP command analysis part 110 of the serverpart 100 analyzes received request commands as SOAP commands, and thedocument management Web service execution part 130 operatescorresponding to the SOAP commands The SOAP response creation part 120of the server part 100 provides the terminal 30 and the image formingapparatus 1000 with process results of the document management Webservice execution part 130 as Web services (S436-2, S440-2, S442-2,S444-2 and S446-2).

On the other hand, in the image forming apparatus 1000, which serves asthe document transmitter apparatus, the SOAP command creation part 210Bof the client part 200B sets request commands sent to the image formingapparatus 1200 as SOAP commands incorporated in messages of HTTPrequests (S444 and S445). The SOAP response interpretation part 220B ofthe client part 200B extracts HTTP responses for process resultscorresponding to the HTTP requests. Also, the SOAP command analysis part110B of the server part 100B analyzes received request commands as SOAPcommands, and the SOAP response creation part 120B of the server part100B provides process results corresponding to the SOAP command as Webservices to the terminal 30 (S431-2, S432-2, S434-2, S435-2 and S439-2).

According to the above-mentioned PUSH type document copying sequence,when a user of the terminal 30 having the document process control part300 selects a document stored in the image forming apparatus 1000, thedocument can be copied from the image forming apparatus 1000 to theimage forming apparatus 1200 by storing the document in HDD 1303 of theimage forming apparatus 1200 in an appropriate document type.

A description is given, with reference to FIG. 52 and FIG. 53, of theabove-mentioned individual request commands according to the fourthembodiment.

FIG. 52 shows an exemplary HTTP request for a page image writing requestcommand according to the fourth embodiment. In FIG. 52, the same portionas those of FIG. 45 are designated by the same reference numerals andthe description thereof is omitted.

Referring to FIG. 52, a code portion 81 indicates that there are aplurality of differently formatted data items in the HTTP request. In acode portion 86, “XX_boundary” indicates a boundary between the dataitem. In a code portion 82, text data information is provided. Forexample, the text data information may include a text description type,a code type, and the length of the text data. In a code portion 80, aSOAP command is specified by sandwiching between <operation> and</operation>. For example, if “putFile(FileID)” is designated as theSOAP command, a page image stored in the image forming apparatus 1000 isrequested to be written in a file designated by FileID.

On the other hand, in a code portion 84, image data information isprovided. For example, the image data information may include an imagedata type, a transferred data type, such as “text” and “binary”, thelength of the image data. Subsequently, image data 85 are provided. Forexample, if the image data type is “Tiff” and the transferred data typeis “binary”, the image data 85 are provided as binary Tiff image data.

In response to receipt of such an HTTP request shown in FIG. 52, theimage forming apparatus 1200 can extract binary Tiff image data from theHTTP request and fulfill the page image writing request by writing theextracted image data in HDD 1303.

FIG. 53 shows an exemplary HTTP response corresponding to the HTTPrequest shown in FIG. 52 according to the fourth embodiment. In FIG. 53,the same code portions as those shown in FIG. 46 are designated by thesame reference numerals and the description thereof is omitted.

Referring to FIG. 53, a code portion 44 includes a code portion 87ranging from <ns:documentmanagementResponse> to</ns:documentmanagementResponse>. In the code portion 87, a processresult of the page image writing request is provided. In a code portion88 ranging from <result> to </result>, for example, “success” isprovided to indicate that the page image writing request has beenfulfilled.

In this example, the HTTP request incorporating image data is sent tothe image forming apparatus 1200. However, the image data may betransmitted and received, for example, in accordance with file transferprotocol (ftp3).

In the PUSH type document copying process according to the fourthembodiment of the present invention, the following SOAP commands areused.

TABLE 4 SOAP command Operation getList get a document list getThumbnailget thumbnail images getFileInfo get file bibliographic informationgetSystemInfo get system information getFileVariation get an acquirableor writable document type list getInsertTicket get a ticket to write(insert) a document insertFileByTicket write (insert) document data by aticket createDoc create an empty document putFile(FileID) write adocument in a file specified a file ID

These SOAP commands are designated by sandwiching between <operation>and </operation> in the SOAP body as described with reference to FIG.45, FIG. 47, FIG. 49 and FIG. 52.

In the fourth embodiment, the screens shown in FIG. 16 through FIG. 19according to the first embodiment are provided to a user of the terminal30. Thus, the description thereof is omitted.

A description is given, with reference to FIG. 54 through FIG. 56, of adocument copying process according to a fifth embodiment of the presentinvention.

In the fifth embodiment, a document stored in the image formingapparatus 1000 is printed out in the image forming apparatus 1200 incooperation with the image forming apparatuses 1000 and 1200 and theterminal 30 having the document process control part 300.

FIG. 54 shows an exemplary structure of a network system according tothe fifth embodiment.

Referring to FIG. 54, the image forming apparatus 1200 prints outdocument data or image data (hereinafter which are referred to as adocument) stored in HDD 1303B of the image forming apparatus 1000.Namely, the image forming apparatus 1000, which serves as a documenttransmitter apparatus, sends a document stored therein to the imageforming apparatus 1200. On the other hand, the image forming apparatus1200, which serves as a document receiver apparatus, produces a copy 4of the document received from the image forming apparatus 1000.

A description is given, with reference to FIG. 55, of a functionalstructure of the image forming apparatus 1200 according to the fifthembodiment.

FIG. 55 shows an exemplary functional structure of the image formingapparatus 1200 according to the fifth embodiment. In FIG. 21, the samecomponents as those in FIG. 4 are designated by the same referencenumerals and the description thereof is omitted. Also, only primaryfunctional components of the image forming apparatus 1200 areillustrated and the other components are omitted.

Referring to FIG. 55, the document management Web service application1216 of the image forming apparatus 1200 differs from the documentmanagement Web service application 1216 according to the fourthembodiment in that the document management Web service application 1216according to the fifth embodiment further includes a printing Webservice execution part 140. The printing Web service execution part 140,which serves as a Web service function (WSF) to provide Web services,prints out a selected document by means of the plotter 1201.

On the other hand, the image forming apparatus 1000 and the terminal 30have the same functional structures and hardware configurations as thoseaccording to the fourth embodiment. Namely, the image forming apparatus1000 has the functional structure shown in FIG. 42, and the terminal 30having the document process control part 300 has the functionalstructure shown in FIG. 55.

A description is given, with reference to FIG. 56, of a documentprinting process according to the fifth embodiment.

FIG. 56 shows an exemplary operation of a PULL type document printingsequence according to the fifth embodiment.

Referring to FIG. 55, a user of the terminal 30 selects the imageforming apparatus 1000 accommodating a desired document from listedapparatuses, which are displayed on the display part 13, connected tothe terminal 30 via the network 15 at step S510.

At step S511, the terminal 30 sends to the image forming apparatus 1000a document list request command to request a list of documents stored inthe image forming apparatus 1000.

At step S511-2, the image forming apparatus 1000, in response to receiptof the document list request command from the terminal 30, uses thedocument management Web service execution part 130B to acquire thedocument list from HDD 1303B and sends the document list to the terminal30.

At step S512, the terminal 30, in response to receipt of the documentlist from the image forming apparatus 1000, sends to the image formingapparatus 1000 a thumbnail request command to request thumbnail data tode displayed on the display part 13.

At step S512-2, when the image forming apparatus 1000 receives thethumbnail request command from the terminal 30, the document managementWeb service execution part 130B operates corresponding to the thumbnailrequest command. Then, the image forming apparatus 1000 sends to theterminal 30 the thumbnail data acquired by the document management Webservice execution part 130B. For example, the thumbnail data arereduced-size image data of the top pages of documents stored in theimage forming apparatus 1000.

At step S513, when the document list of the image forming apparatus 1000is displayed in thumbnail representation on the display part 13 of theterminal 30, the user determines which apparatus should print out whichdocument by dragging and dropping a thumbnail of a desired documenttoward a desired apparatus. In this embodiment, the user drags and dropsa document stored in the image forming apparatus 1000 toward the imageforming apparatus 1200.

At step S514, the terminal 30 sends to the image forming apparatus 1000a bibliographic information request command to request bibliographicinformation regarding the selected document.

At step S514-2, the image forming apparatus 1000, in response to receiptof the bibliographic information request command from the terminal 30,uses the document management Web service execution part 130B to acquirethe bibliographic information from HDD 1303B and sends the bibliographicinformation to the terminal 30.

At step S515, the terminal 30, in response to receipt of thebibliographic information from the image forming apparatus 1000, sendsto the image forming apparatus 1200 a system information request commandto request system information regarding the image forming apparatus1200.

At step S515-2, the image forming apparatus 1200, in response to receiptof the system information request command from the terminal 30, sendsthe system information to the terminal 30.

At step S516, the terminal 30, in response to receipt of the systeminformation from the image forming apparatus 1200, examines feasibilityof the printing process using a ticket. Then, the terminal 30 sends tothe image forming apparatus 1000 an acquirable document type listrequest command to request a list of document types acquirable from theimage forming apparatus 1000.

At step S516-2, the image forming apparatus 1000, in response to receiptof the acquirable document type list request command from the terminal30, sends the acquirable document type list to the terminal 30.

At step S517, the terminal 30, in response to receipt of the acquirabledocument type list from the image forming apparatus 1000, maintains theacquirable document type list as a transmitter document type list 302.Furthermore, the terminal 30 sends to the image forming apparatus 1200 aprintable document type list request command to request a list ofdocument types printable in the image forming apparatus 1200.

At step S517-2, the image forming apparatus 1200, in response to receiptof the printable document type list request command from the terminal30, sends the printable document type list to the terminal 30.

At step S518, the terminal 30, in response to receipt of the printabledocument type list from the image forming apparatus 1200, maintains theprintable document type list as a receiver document type list 304. Then,the terminal 30 displays a copying or printing confirmation dialog, asdescribed with respect to the second embodiment, on the display part 13.

When the user chooses OK to start the printing process at step S519, thesequence control part 310 of the terminal 30 uses the document typedetermination part 320 to determine whether or not there is a documenttype acquirable from the image forming apparatus 1000 and printable inthe image forming apparatus 1200 based on the transmitter document typelist 302 and the receiver document type list 304, and determines thebest document type at step S520. Based on the determination, if thereare a plurality of such document types, the document type determinationpart 320 determines one of the document types as the best document type.If there is no such a document type, the document type determinationpart 320 determines a predetermined document type as the best documenttype.

At step S521, the terminal 30 sends to the image forming apparatus 1000a ticket request command to request a ticket to use documents stored inthe image forming apparatus 1000.

At step S521-2, the image forming apparatus 1000, in response to receiptof the ticket request command from the terminal 30, sends the ticket tothe terminal 30.

At step S522, the terminal 30, in response to receipt of the ticket fromthe image forming apparatus 1000, sends to the image forming apparatus1200 a printing attribute information request command to requestprinting attribute information to indicate whether or not the selecteddocument should be double-sided printed or single-sided printed.

At step S522-2, the image forming apparatus 1000, in response to receiptof the printing attribute information request command from the terminal30, sends the printing attribute information to the terminal 30.

At step S523, the terminal 30, in response to receipt of the printingattribute information from the image forming apparatus 1000, sends tothe image forming apparatus 1200 a job creation request command tocreate a job for the printing process.

At step S523-2, the image forming apparatus 1200, in response to receiptof the job creation request command from the terminal 30, creates thejob for the printing process and sends to the terminal 30 a job ID toidentify the job.

At step S524, the terminal 30 sends to the image forming apparatus 1200a printing attribute setting request command to set printing attributes.

At step S524-2, the image forming apparatus 1200, in response to receiptof the printing attribute setting request command from the terminal 30,sets the printing attributes and sends to the terminal 30 a printingsetting completion message to indicate that the printing attributes havebeen set.

At step S525, the terminal 30, in response to receipt of the printingattribute setting completion message from the image forming apparatus1200, sends to the image forming apparatus 1200 a document printingrequest command to print the selected document by authority of theticket acquired at step S521-2.

At step S524, the image forming apparatus 1200, in response to receiptof the document printing request command from the terminal 30, sends tothe image forming apparatus 1000 a page image request command to requesta page image of the document in the format of the document typedesignated in the ticket.

At step S526-2, the image forming apparatus 1000, in response to receiptof the page image request command from the image forming apparatus 1200,sends the page image to the image forming apparatus 1200. In the pageimage request command, for example, a plurality of page images of theselected document may be designated. Alternatively, whenever the imageforming apparatus 1200 receives each page image from the image formingapparatus 1000, the image forming apparatus 1200 may iteratively send tothe image forming apparatus 1000 a page image request command for thenext page image.

At step S527, after the image forming apparatus 1200 receives all pageimages of the selected document from the image forming apparatus 1000,the printing Web service execution part 140 uses the plotter 1201 toprint out the page images.

At step S527-2, after completion of the printing process, the imageforming apparatus 1200 sends to the terminal 30 a printing requestcompletion message to indicate that the printing request has beenfulfilled.

At step S528, the terminal 30, in response to receipt of the printingcompletion message from the image forming apparatus 1200, displays onthe display part 13 a printing completion dialog to indicated that theprinting process has been terminated.

In the terminal 30, which serves as an operator apparatus, the SOAPcommand creation part 210C of the client part 200C sets request commandssent to the image forming apparatuses 1000 and 1200 as SOAP commandsincorporated in messages of HTTP requests (S511, S512, S514, S515, S516,S517, S521, S522, S523, S524 and S525). The SOAP interpretation part220C of the client part 200C extracts HTTP responses for process resultscorresponding to the HTTP requests.

In the image forming apparatus 1000, which serves as the documenttransmitter apparatus, the SOAP command analysis part 110B of the serverpart 100B analyzes received request commands as SOAP commands, and thedocument management Web service execution part 130B operatescorresponding to the SOAP commands. The SOAP response creation part 120Bof the server part 100 provides the terminal 30 or the image formingapparatus 1200 with process results of the document management Webservice execution part 130B as Web services (S511-2, S512-2, S514-2,S516-2, S521-2, S522-2 and S524-2).

On the other hand, in the image forming apparatus 1200, which serves asthe document receiver apparatus, the SOAP command creation part 210 ofthe client part 200 sets request commands sent to the image formingapparatus 1000 as SOAP commands incorporated in messages of HTTPrequests (S526). The SOAP response interpretation part 220 of the clientpart 200 extracts HTTP responses for process results corresponding tothe HTTP requests. Also, the SOAP command analysis part 110 of theserver part 100 analyzes received request commands as SOAP commands, andthe SOAP response creation part 120 of the server part 100 providesprocess results corresponding to the SOAP command as Web services to theterminal 30 (S515-2, S517-2, S523-2, S524-2, S525-2 and S527-2).

According to the above-mentioned PULL type document copying sequence,when a user of the terminal 30 having the document process control part300 selects a document stored in the image forming apparatus 1000, thedocument stored in the image forming apparatus 1000 can be printed inthe image forming apparatus 1200 by means of the plotter 1201.

In the fifth embodiment, the screens shown in FIG. 16 through FIG. 19according to the second embodiment are provided to a user of theterminal 30. Thus, the description thereof is omitted.

In the fourth and fifth embodiment of the present invention, when theterminal 30 having the document process control part 300 requests aselected document stored in the image forming apparatus 1000 in theformat of a document type that is determined based on document typesprocessable to the image forming apparatuses 1000 and 1200, thecorresponding image processing process can be performed in the imageforming apparatus 1200 in cooperation with the apparatuses connected toeach other via the network. For example, if the size of a document thatthe image forming apparatus 1000, which serves as the documenttransmitter apparatus, accommodates is greater than the maximal size ofdocuments that the image forming apparatus 1200, which serves as thedocument receiver apparatus, can store, the document process controlpart 300 of the terminal 30 can use an image scaling function thereof tosend a reduced-size page image to the image forming apparatus 1200 basedon determination of the document type determination part 320.

Also, since the document process control part 300 flexibly controlscooperation with the image forming apparatuses 1000 and 1200 dependingon types of processes such as a copying process and a printing process,it is possible to perform various types of processes through cooperationwith apparatuses connected via a network.

In the fourth and fifth embodiments, the copying process and theprinting process that are performed through cooperation with apparatusesconnected via a network are described. However, the present invention isnot limited to these processes. The present invention is applicable tofile management, scanner control and so on. Furthermore, the presentinvention is applicable to process information regarding the imageforming apparatuses 1000 and 1200.

Also, the image forming apparatuses 1000 and 1200 and the terminal 30according to the embodiments are not limited to communication via afixed line LAN (Local Area Network). In other words, although physicallayers differs in a network system, such as a wireless LAN andBluetooth, SOAP messages can be exchanged in such a network system inaccordance with TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/InternetProtocol). Thus, it is possible to implement various processes accordingto the embodiments as Web services in accordance with http and SOAP.Furthermore, communicated contents are allowed to be extended in aparallel system, such as a centronics and SCSI. Thus, as long as thereis agreement between devices that will communicate each other, it ispossible to implement message exchange in accordance with SOAP.

The present invention is not limited to the specifically disclosedembodiments, and variations and modifications may be made withoutdeparting from the scope of the present invention.

1. An image forming apparatus configured to serve as a documentdestination apparatus for receiving and printing first image data or afirst document stored in an other image forming apparatus, and the imageforming apparatus further configured to serve as a document sourceapparatus for transmitting second image data or a second document storedtherein to the other image forming apparatus, the image formingapparatus comprising: a communication unit configured to communicatewith the other image forming apparatus connected via a network; adocument storage unit configured to store the second image data or thesecond document; a printing unit configured to print the first imagedata or the first document received from the other image formingapparatus via the communication unit; a document management unitconfigured to, when the image forming apparatus is serving as thedocument destination apparatus, transmit a print request to the otherimage forming apparatus, receive the first image data or the firstdocument stored in the other image forming apparatus, and to print thereceived first image data or the first document by the printing unit,and the document management unit being further configured to, when theimage forming apparatus is serving as the document source apparatus,transmit the second image data or the second document in response toreceipt of a print request from the other image forming apparatus, forprinting the second image data or the second document stored in theimage forming apparatus, by a printing unit of the other image formingapparatus; and wherein the document management unit is furtherconfigured to, when the image forming apparatus is serving as thedocument source apparatus, transmit to the image forming apparatus alist of the second image data or the second document stored in thedocument storage unit in response to a list request from the other imageforming apparatus, and to transmit to the other image forming apparatusthumbnail data of the second image data or the second document inresponse to a thumbnail request from the other image forming apparatus.2. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the networkis one of a wired LAN and a wireless LAN.
 3. The image forming apparatusaccording to claim 1, wherein the printing unit of the image formingapparatus is configured to print out the first image data or the firstdocument onto at least one sheet, and the printing unit of the otherimage forming apparatus is configured to print out the second image dataor the second document onto at least one sheet.
 4. The image formingapparatus according to claim 1, wherein the document management unit isfurther configured to, when the image forming apparatus is serving asthe document destination apparatus, transmit to the other image formingapparatus a request for a list of the first image data or the firstdocument stored in the other image forming apparatus and to receive thelist of the first image data or the first document from the other imageforming apparatus.
 5. The image forming apparatus according to claim 4,wherein the document management unit is further configured to, when theimage forming apparatus is serving as the document destinationapparatus, transmit to the other image forming apparatus a request forthumbnail data of the first image data or the first document and toreceive the thumbnail data of the first image data or the first documentfrom the other image forming apparatus.
 6. The image forming apparatusaccording to claim 5, further comprising: a display unit configured todisplay the received list of the first image data or the first documentstored in the other image forming apparatus and the received thumbnaildata of the first image data or the first document stored in the otherimage forming apparatus.
 7. The image forming apparatus according toclaim 6, wherein the display unit includes a user interface for a userto select a desired object from the first image data, first document,second image data, and second document, and to indicate whether thedesired object is to be print out by the printing unit of the imageforming apparatus or the printing unit of the other image formingapparatus.
 8. An image forming method, implemented on an image formingapparatus configured to serve as a document destination apparatus forreceiving and printing first image data or a first document stored in another image forming apparatus, and the image forming apparatus beingfurther configured to serve as a document source apparatus fortransmitting second image data or a second document stored therein tothe other image forming apparatus, the method comprising: communicating,via a communication unit, with the other image forming apparatusconnected via a network; storing, at a document storage unit, the secondimage data or the second document; transmitting, when the image formingapparatus is serving as the document destination apparatus, a printrequest to the other image forming apparatus for receiving the firstimage data or the first document stored in the other image formingapparatus; printing, at a printing unit, the first image data or thefirst document received from the other image forming apparatus via thecommunication unit; transmitting, when the image forming apparatus isserving as the document source apparatus, the second image data or thesecond document in response to receipt of a print request from the otherimage forming apparatus for printing the second image data or the seconddocument stored in the image forming apparatus by a printing unit of theother image forming apparatus; and wherein when the image formingapparatus is serving as the document source apparatus, transmitting tothe other image forming apparatus a list of the second image data or thesecond document stored in the document storage unit in response to alist request from the other image forming apparatus, and transmitting tothe other image forming apparatus thumbnail data of the second imagedata or the second document in response to a thumbnail request from theother image forming apparatus.